Apocalypse: Outbreak
by BTolson23
Summary: Book Four in the World's End Chronicles. The dead have risen, hungering after the souls that still dare to live. Follow the stories of seven unique perspectives as they encounter challenges that test them to their limits. Death is always looming, close around every corner, as the Apocalypse begins under Pandora's hidden gaze...
1. Sprint

**Sabrina ****Holland**

**Sprint**

_The setting sun glinted off the blade of the knife. It was a simple knife, made of smooth metal with the handle clad in leather. If one was to look closely, they would realise that the knife had been crafted by a skilled hand and not of a machine's cold touch. Countless hours of work had gone into creating this knife, made for a boy whose death had come at the hands of the one who now held his knife. For a moment Sabrina thought back to that moment so high up on that cliff before turning her attention back to the more important issue at hand. _

_ "You… Ruby… are so selfless. It's… amazing." A croaked chuckle left Sabrina's exhausted throat. "Jake… I never did anything wrong when I was with Jake. I hadn't acted on my vision but that was it. That was nothing. When I listened to that voice in order to survive… that was when I became… bad." Sabrina finally looked away from the knife of her memories and to the woman who sat next to her. _

_ Ruby Ascot was covered in the concrete dust of the collapsed building, coating everything from her trainers to her face in gentle grey flecks. However, this didn't mar the bright red hair that was the staple of Ruby, cut short and tomboyish which drew Sabrina's attention the moment she had first laid eyes upon the girl. Ruby's legs were splayed out in front of her, unmoving due to the impact on the way down with the building and blood duller than her hair dripped down her left shoulder. Ruby's eyes were clenched shut as if she refused to even look at Sabrina. Not that she could blame her. _

_ Sabrina gently placed her hand on Ruby's cheek, looking at the closed eyes as if attempting to penetrate them. "I met you and… and I fell in love again. I wanted to protect you no matter what. I wanted to be with you for as long as I could. I thought that would be for a long time. Then the Epsilon incident happened and… and I did more bad things. I didn't want to act on the visions I had, I didn't want to place either of us in danger. I had to battle with that urge for survival again. But you… you continued to love me, even as I did all those bad things… even after… even after…" Sabrina looked away for the briefest moment to look at the body that lay crumpled a few metres away. The jewel-emblazoned eagle glittered obscenely against the blood that pooled from the crushed skull of the small woman. Sabrina could still feel that rebar in her hand and suspected that feeling would never leave. "…This." _

_ Silence trailed for a few seconds. "…What you've done… is absolutely wrong… but…" Ruby still refused to open her eyes. After all, who would want to witness their own death? "…I… at least can guess at your struggles. I can understand _why_, even if it's wrong. That's why… That's why I can still love you… But I love the you from before Epsilon… And after… after you do what you need to do, you need to become that woman again." Finally she opened her eyes and Sabrina could stare into those hazel gems that she loved so much. "You need to be the best Sabrina Holland you can be." _

_ "…I can't do that…" Sabrina said quietly, her resolution hitting her with surprising ease. "…Because I won't be around to be that Sabrina Holland. She's too far gone to come back." Sabrina placed the hilt of the knife in Ruby's own hand, feeling the cold palm with her fingertips. _

_ "What are you-?" _

_ "You are a… very special person, Ruby. It's unbelievable that you've managed to overcome my sense of survival. That's… That's magical. It really is." Sabrina felt such serenity that one could imagine she hadn't just murdered two innocent women. "I don't know if this will work but… But I hope it does. I hope that you can go on to enjoy your life, Ruby. Find a friend – someone you can really trust. Someone you can speak your soul to and someone who can be everything I wasn't. Someone who will stick with you through thick and th-thin…" Sabrina felt her voice crack and the serenity was invaded by grief, running all the way up her spine. She refused to cry though. Not now. "Someone you can laugh with... and cry with… w-who'll enjoy the concerts you like and… and… will comfort you in times of despair… Who can do all the things I never did… Someone who is brave… and brilliant… and…" Sabrina swallowed, feeling the hot lump at the back of her throat. The words dissipated in the cool evening air. _

_ "Sabrina, don't—" _

_ "Ssh…" Sabrina squeezed her hand over Ruby's own, the leather of the knife between them. "I had a choice, Ruby. Me or you. Survival or death. Last time I chose me. I chose survival and it corrupted me. This time… You're to good a person to go." This time, Sabrina closed her eyes. "I love you, Ruby Ascot." _

_ With those words on her lips, Sabrina pulled hard on Ruby's hand. She felt the sharp blade pierce into her belly with no resistance, sliding in with ease. Sabrina gasped – uncertain whether it was the pain of the knife or the relief of making this choice. She pushed forward, allowing the blade to completely disappear inside her, in order to get close enough to kiss Ruby again. This kiss was different that that quick one from before. This one was filled with so much euphoria that Sabrina was certain that this was the correct decision. _

_Ruby had to live._

* * *

_London, England_

Sabrina held the knife that had killed her in front of her as the figure rushed towards her, screaming like a banshee with arms flailing uselessly. She grit her teeth, not understanding why she was even walking again but not willing to argue that fact. She had died, Sabrina knew that, and she had somehow come back alive, waking up in this silver morgue with a hundred doors to the other dead. This figure rushing towards her had come out of one of these doors and going by its pallid appearance it was certainly as dead as Sabrina should have been.

Sabrina swung her arm and stabbed the knife hard down into the collarbone of the figure, letting the sharp knife dig deep. This seemed as effective as prodding it with her finger as the – for lack of a better word – zombie tackled into Sabrina with the force of a rugby player and knocked her against the floor, the knife pulling out of Sabrina's grasp and staying stuck in the collar of the zombie. Sabrina hit the floor with her back and used both arms to push against the shoulders of the zombie whose teeth were gnashing up and down like a deranged animal.

"Meagan!" Sabrina called, looking to her left where Meagan Thompson stood, staring down at the scene with wide eyes. From this position the red marks on her neck where Sabrina had strangled her reminded Sabrina that she couldn't expect any help from Meagan. Didn't deserve any help from her. Another dead body. At least, she should be. Sabrina had watched the life leave the girl as she had strangled her back at the construction site, squeezing so tightly she could feel the veins and trachea in her palms. Yet here she was, just like Sabrina, alive and well.

Sabrina shoved harder on the zombie and knocked him away from her, scrambling back to her feet only for an errant slap from the zombie to hit her in the face. Sabrina winced at the impact and felt a sharp nail tear into her cheek. She responded with a punch of her own, desperately attempting to get the zombie away from her. Instead the bones of the face crumbled under her fist and one eye popped, the goop of the eye sliding down the zombie's cheek. Sabrina recoiled in shock at the effect of decomposition and looked at the now-twisted face of the zombie.

At least it had stopped screaming. Not that the banging had stopped which Sabrina could make an educated guess were hundreds more like this one, trying to escape their steel graves. It lunged towards Sabrina with both hands and now Sabrina had her wits about her she ducked under its grasp, reaching up to grab her knife out from its collar. Hoping that every zombie movie she had ever watched when she was a kid was true, she rotated the blade and slid it into one ear. The zombie immediately buckled, pulling out of the knife and collapsing to the floor. Sabrina stepped away, panting.

Sabrina wiped the remnants of blood on the black jacket with the emblazoned eagle she now wore, a memento of the other woman she had killed, Lily Talbot. She turned to Meagan who was wringing her hands. "What was that?" Meagan asked, eyes wide.

"Somebody long dead," Sabrina motioned towards a door in the far back wall. "Come on, we need to get out of here before that banging stops and we get a lot more like this one." Yet Meagan refused to move. "Come on, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Meagan asked incredulously, looking to Sabrina as if she were a fool. Hell, Sabrina was certain that she herself was a fool when it came to certain decisions of her life. "What the _fuck _is going on? You killed me, Sabrina!" She motioned to the mottled marks on her neck. "But now I'm alive and in some kind of morgue and with some kind of zombie, I mean, a zombie!? What the fuck is this, some kind of stunt, some kind of personal hell, some sort of bloody ridiculous… I mean, look at it!" Meagan was growing hysterical, pointing at the body on the floor. "This isn't right, this isn't right, I can remember, I remember your hands, I remember it fading, I remember not being able to speak, not being able to breathe as you-you-you choked me to fucking death! This isn't-This isn't right… No, no, no, no, no, this is not… How can I… How can this…?" Meagan clutched her hands to her head, eyes wide and panicked. "I'm not-I'm not breathing now; I'm not breathing now!" Meagan let out a choked gasp and let out strange noises as if trying to deliberately draw breath in and out. "I'm like him, I'm just like him, I'm dead, I'm dead!"

Sabrina quickly realised that she wasn't breathing either though found herself deliberately sucking in air instinctively. She supposed that when you breathed day in and day out for twenty years it would be a little weird to suddenly not do it. Sabrina knew it was odd that she wasn't panicking and certainly should be acting like Meagan, yet she knew that this was a chance. A chance to find her again.

_Ruby…_

Sabrina stepped closer to Meagan, aware of the constant banging and knowing their time was limited. "Get it together."

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I don't understand, I don't, shut up! SHUT UP!"

"You're not like him," Sabrina said firmly, raising her voice to drown out Meagan's shouts. "You can think, you can talk. That thing had no control. We do. Think about it, Meagan. Come on. I have my memories. You do to, don't you? You remember Trenton, don't you? Just like I do Ruby?"

"Don't say his name! Don't say it!" Anger flared over the maddened Meagan but as soon as she said it the anger dissipated. "Trent..." She took a deep, unnecessary, breath and finally calmed down, running both hands down over her hair and cheeks. "Trent." She said again, closing her eyes. She murmured his name a few more times, a ritual of sorts to regain her sense. She opened her eyes and looked at Sabrina. "I'm okay. I'm… I'm okay."

A crashing noise brought Sabrina and Meagan's attention down the corridor. It seemed as if fate had let them have their break as doors all up the corridor burst open and bodies flung themselves out, each in varying stages of decomposition and all as entirely naked as Sabrina and Meagan had been. Some crawled, some walked, some ran, yet all screamed as if their souls were trapped in the eternal torture of hell.

"Go, go! Run!" Sabrina called, grabbing Meagan's shoulder and pushing her in front. They ran as fast as they could, doors on either side and in front of them of them breaking open, filling with hundreds of the dead in just one instant. A crawling one reached for Sabrina but she gave it such a sharp kick that its jaw came clean off. She stumbled but Meagan grabbed Sabrina's arm, stopping her from falling. "Thanks," Sabrina said honestly but Meagan didn't look back as they ran.

"It was instinct," Meagan replied, avoiding two more reaching zombies. As they ran, Sabrina realised it wasn't only the breathing that was absent. It was the use of energy. She wasn't sweating and no matter how hard she pushed herself she didn't feel any kind of energy limit. She and Meagan retained the same high pace as the door at the end of the corridor grew larger and larger. Part of Sabrina thought this could be pretty useful. "They're too close!" Meagan called as they ran.

"Just get to the door!" Sabrina replied.

"What if it's locked?" Meagan responded.

"Fuck if I know. We slam into it then."

"You think that'll work?"

"Wanna turn around and face our chances with the dead?"

"Yeah, that's _exactly_ what I want to do."

Their bickering was cut short when the door unbelievably opened wide, as if beckoning them in. Neither thought to question it and burst through the door, squeezing through shoulder-to-shoulder. Sabrina instantly turned around and slammed the door shut, scrabbling with a latch and holding it firmly in place. She straightened, once again finding it unusual that she wasn't breathing at all. If she were indeed alive, she would have been doubled over, her lungs working overtime. Instead she felt as she had been relaxing for a day in a sun-soaked observatory.

"...Sabrina…"

Sabrina turned and found herself face-to-face with the most unexpected person she could imagine. The woman looked as if she could be Sabrina's grandmother, with her grey hair tied into an untidy bun and a face full of wrinkles. Her eyes under her glasses were flashing between Sabrina and Meagan who had fallen to the floor in shock, her back pushed up against the door separating them and the dead, who were now banging like savage animals on the metal. Sabrina suspected it wouldn't last long.

"Now this is interesting," The old woman said, hefting a shotgun Sabrina hadn't seen before against her shoulder. The shotgun looked like it shouldn't be in the hands of such an old woman. "I almost didn't believe my cameras when I saw you running from the dead. Glad I opened the door when I did. The two of you were dead as doornails when you came to my door, so I wonder why you're walking and talking and not one with the rest of the dead. Come on, we'll pop upstairs and have a cup of tea." The woman turned and started towards the steel doors of an elevator before stopping after noticing neither Sabrina nor Meagan were following. "Come now, I'm not going to bite. I know who you are. Sabrina Holland. Meagan Thompson. Key figures in the Epsilon incident. The last of that List to go. Oh yes, I know."

"Who are you?" Out of all the hundreds of questions Sabrina had floating around her head, this simple one was the one that slipped out.

"My name is Doris, dearie. Doris Crawson, member of the Department of Supernatural Investigations and manager of the TRSI building in London." She paused a moment, pursing her lips. "I probably shouldn't have told you that. Ah well, the times have made my lips loose and the idea of talking to some people, dead or not, after a day like this is rather enticing. Now come on, the kettle is already on and I believe I have some teacakes hiding in the cupboard."

The Department of Supernatural Investigation. The goddamn DSI. Sabrina should have known. Yet given the choice between the undead and the DSI, though a tough one, she chose the living and followed Doris Crawson into the elevator with Meagan by her side, allowing the steel doors to close shut around them.

* * *

**A/N:- Well, hello there. It's been a while. I've had enough of hemming and hawwing and should I or shouldn't I, so I'm just gonna. Welcome to the fourth book of the World's End Chronicles, Apocalypse: Outbreak. While probably not necessary to read the first three books, I will be using characters from these stories and referencing events from these stories, so in order to understand a lot of the backstory I'd recommend having a look-see. The Cliff's Notes is that The Four Horseman have resurrected the dead under the orders of Pandora after a certain Paige Calloway killed Death. I know, sounds crazy when I put it look that. **

**I'm not going to have a schedule for this one. I was worried to much about not having the time to put out chapters regularly that I've put this off for long enough. I'm just going to submit when I do and I think that's the healthiest way for me to do it. So to those of you who've read my other books in these chronicles, welcome back, and for those of you knew, welcome. I hope you enjoy the first of the Apocalypse trilogy - Outbreak!**

*** Ruby Ascot is credited to _gotthealpha in me_**


	2. The Fall of Cairo

**Lisa ****Valentine**

**The Fall of Cairo**

_Cairo, Egypt_

Lisa sprawled herself on the blood-stained chair, letting out an exhausted breath and resting her pistol on the desk, the muzzle still hot with use. She brushed the clinging strands of hair from her forehead and took a good look at the office that once belonged to her Egyptian equivalent Zeina Morcos. Just like Zeina, Lisa was CEO of her branch of the DSI, that of being the United Kingdom. Zeina had been the reason Lisa had come to the African Headquarters only to discover all the staff had been killed without wounds, just like a nearby stadium days before. Yet before she could investigate any further than a blood-spattered desk, the dead had risen and she and her team had been attacked without remorse.

One of the members of her three-man team and the most experienced member of the trio codenamed Saint stood at the door, having refused to allow any of the dead to invade the office. He stood steadfast, slowly wiping the blood off the blade of his sword, his eyes peering out from the black mask all the Combat Division of the DSI wore. The windows of the office facing into the main room were dotted with bullet holes from where Lisa had shot past Saint to take down the dead with precision shots. Even though no more bodies moved, Saint still stood with his guard up, not willing risk any making it to Lisa.

Lisa slid the pistol back into the holster under her jacket and stood just as a small _pop _echoed in the office. Immediately a man appeared in her peripheral vision as if it he came from nowhere. In fact, that was just where Oni had come from. He was sliding two long knives into sheaths on his hips, the demonic-styled mask he wore glinting in the dull office light. In fact, he had appeared from out of nowhere as an owner of an Ability, a rare occurrence in human-kind that allowed certain members powers that were almost unbelievable. One objective of the DSI was to gather these Ability users for their own ends. Oni had the power to teleport and Lisa still couldn't get used to him simply disappearing one place and appearing another without so much as a whiff of smoke. Nevertheless this power was absolutely necessary during covert missions where failure was not an option.

Oni nodded to Saint, pointing down with his hand, twisting it into a thumbs down and then closing his fist. This was to signify that the below floors were clear of any lingering dead. The Combat Division were trained not to speak during any kind of mission in order never to accidentally reveal their location, so they spoke to each other with hand signals. This training was so ingrained in them that only with the permission of their handler – in this case Lisa – that they would speak. Saint nodded to receive the message and patted his shoulder, asking where Oni's partner and the third member of the trio was.

Oni shrugged just as there was movement at the end of the corridor. Saint briefly tightened the grip on his blade before realising that Wildfire had arrived just in time. The youngest member of the team had personalised his uniform to show off the streak of blonde hair running from his forehead to the nape of his neck, the sides shaved in swirled flame patterns. The mask he wore only reached his nose, leaving his eyes and forehead free. The skin that they could see was pale and smoke was drifting off his uniform no doubt from the usage of his powers, the Ability to emit fire. The DSI's scientists wondered if Wildfire would eventually be able to control flames but for now he could only produce flames, though to an extreme extent that allowed him to even propel himself through the air.

Wildfire repeated the motions of Oni, letting Saint finally slide his blade through a metallic belt loop. "At ease," Lisa said, mostly to the relief of Wildfire who sank into the nearest seat, wiping sweat from his forehead. Oni leaned against the wall with his arms crossed though Saint remained standing straight as a statue, refusing to be surprised. Lisa clasped her hands behind her back and walked to the window with a frown, surveying the city of Cairo with a dread feeling in her stomach. There was only one reason why the dead were rising and that was that the long-awaited Doomsday Clock had finally reached zero.

In the twenty minutes it had taken to defeat the dead in the Egyptian Headquarters, the city had fallen to chaos. Lisa could see lines of traffic blocking the roads, cars crashed into the sides of buildings and into each other. There were fires already starting to rage out of control in various areas of the cities and small figures running back and forth. It was easy to determine the dead from the living. The dead were grouping together as one almost symbiotic entity, chasing down the individual living who had been caught off-guard. Lisa could tell by the numbers alone that this was an infectious outbreak though a part of her refused to call them what they were: zombies. She would settle for the dead or the undead.

Being a member of the DSI for as long as she had had naturally meant Lisa had encountered her fair share of the supernatural. Ghosts, poltergeists, Abilities and killers of myth and legend. In fact, the DSI had their very own _Director_ who told tales of these to the public in order to make them believe the supernatural was just that – tales. Nobody truly believed that Bloody Mary and the Headless Horseman were real tales yet Lisa had met both spirits in person. So while the idea of the dead swarming the city spreading their infection wasn't particularly strange, it was still almost surreal considering all the media surrounding zombies and the dead.

She noted to herself that she was being particularly clinical about this but that wasn't anything new to Lisa. She often found it hard to latch onto her emotions and use them, something she thought was a skill rather than a weakness. She wasn't panicking at all that the dead were taking over Cairo and she suspected that the city was already lost going by the swarms that were forming. She could assume that all the dead were reviving all in one go. The dead in the headquarters for one all rose at the same time and Lisa suspected that was the case, across the world. Graveyards, hospitals, morgues, cemeteries, homes, and workplaces. Any dead, buried, forgotten, or hiding, all coming back to life with a hunger for humanity.

"The mission is simple," Lisa spoke out loud to her compatriots. She wondered, briefly, what they thought of all this. At least they were all professional enough not to show it. She knew Saint would be as clinical as her, if not more-so. She suspected Oni would have doubts but he wouldn't speak of them. He rarely slipped behind that demonic mask of his. Wildfire was the worry, though. He had been on numerous missions and Lisa trusted him, though he had never been on a mission like this. The coming hours would dictate the toll it would take on the young man. "This is how I see it," Lisa continued. "Cairo has fallen and I suspect cities all across the country and the world have fallen too or soon will. Evacuations to the bunkers will be taking place and the Rescue Division will be on top of it. I will not worry about survivors being gathered, as I trust they are. No, I'm still more concerned about what happened here."

Lisa tapped the table, turning to face her team. "Something happened to Zeina Morcos and I suspect the reports we received were falsified. Either Zeina has turned traitor or more likely she has been killed or is being coerced. I want to find out who and why. It is not coincidence that whatever happened here happened days before the Doomsday Clock finally hit zero. The Board of Directors should have guessed something had happened and the fact they didn't suggested they are hiding it. They should be looking into every email, every report, from every staff member. They didn't here and I want to know why. So we are going back to London and confronting the Board of Directors. They will have locked down their offices from the dead and be hiding up there. Whatever happened here is only one of various incidents in the last couple of years that have concerned me. The DSI has changed, as I'm sure you noticed, and it is an altogether different beast to what is what when I joined. I want answers and I want them before the Board scurries away when the horizon is safe.

"This is not a mission, Oni, Saint, Wildfire. This is merely a personal goal of mine. I give you permission to leave, to help the Rescue Division in saving the promised and the available. I won't fault you for that. But your skills are invaluable and if possible I would like you with me." Lisa respected the fact that immediately all three of the members nodded. She had worked with them for a long time. She did wish that the fourth member of her personal guard was here, though. Axel was currently preoccupied helping Tanzi Sakamoto with her goals. "Thank you," Lisa nodded. "We'll take a quick break. There's nothing we can do about Cairo nor about the Doomsday Clock. We knew this from day one." Lisa didn't mention the two other reasons she had for going back to London, though she couldn't help but think of her two sons. Joshua could handle himself, she knew, especially with that team of his. It was Miles she was more worried about. He was intelligent was his age, certainly, but would he have made it to the Bunker in time?

The bunkers were a safeguard installed by the DSI years ago in preparation for this very event. When one joined the DSI, any family members would immediately be given access to these bunkers. When the Doomsday Clock was getting close to zero Lisa knew that the Rescue Division would start finding those members to get them into the bunkers that were spread throughout the seven continents. It wouldn't only be family members. It would be scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, Nobel prize winners, doctors, surgeons, great leaders of the mind. These were the people that if humankind were the fall, they could rebuild it in an instant, bypassing thousands of years of civilization.

There were thousands of bunkers, each with the potential to hold thousands in densely designed living quarters that could survive earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and even a nuclear explosion in the potential for a third world war. Lisa could only guess that Miles would have been escorted to the one under London that could hold half the population of the city. It occurred to Lisa that she had never seen a bunker, though they were locked in careful secrecy until the event of Doomsday.

Part of her dreaded to think that she would never seen her sons again. Joshua would laugh at the notion that she cared but Lisa truly did. Every decision she had made was for her sons, for a future they could live in. Joshua was in his twenties and Miles had just hit ten. They had a long life to live and Lisa would be damned if she'd led Doomsday end that. That was what strove her forward, through the ranks of the DSI to become CEO of the United Kingdom. She worked tirelessly, stretching the bonds with her sons – especially Joshua – to the breaking point.

Her only friend left alive was Jamie Root who was currently in her own quest with her niece, Rose Milano. The rest of the people she considered friends were dead. Ashley Root, Jamie's sister, whose intense hatred of her daughter got her killed in the end. William Milano, uncle to Rose, engulfed in the blackness of space within that coffin of an escape pod. Mike Milano, burnt to a crisp within the destruction of the Saviour V. They were her only friends, the only people she could open up to even a little bit. Everyone else were colleagues, partners, allies. No friends. Never friends.

Lisa clapped her hands together and turned on her heel. It was time to go. The military base would hopefully have managed to survive the first wave of the dead and set up a safety perimeter. That was where they had landed in their private jet and that was where Lisa intended to take off again for London. Oni, Saint, and Wildfire all straightened and moved aside to allow Lisa to pass through them, determination for her sons, her country, and indeed her world etched on her face.

* * *

**A/N:- I've been looking forward to finally giving Lisa the lime-light. She's been a reoccurring character who appears briefly in scenes but she's got a lot more to do this time around. Thanks for reading! **


	3. Leader

**Rose Milano**

**Leader**

_Berlin, Germany_

"…can't go out there, not now."

"If we don't go now, we're gonna be stuck here!"

Rose Milano recognised those voices as she slowly came to her senses. She had been sleeping a wonderful sleep, the dream of eating dinner with her family already drifting away on the horizons of her consciousness. The voices had been slowly growing louder and louder and that was what had eventually drawn Rose from her slumber. She slowly flickered her eyes open to see two women clearly arguing. One was in a black leather jacket with her arm in a sling, the other was a younger woman with dark skin. Both were getting quite animated.

"I don't know if you _saw _what just happened, but I don't fancy our chances—"

"We don't even know what that is!" Alisha interrupted. Yes, Rose recognised them now. Alisha Sanders, the teenager who had just recently lost her parents and brother. Bethany Cross, self-proclaimed leader of the Miracle Skyhawks, an international band. "Could be anything, could be an infection, could be a mental illness!"

"We know what it is. Clear as day is day. And really, if we can accept Death and his List, then why can't we accept zombies?"

"_Don't call them that!_"

"Shush," the third voice came from somewhere behind Rose from where she lay and was soothing and low. She felt a light pressure on her arm, the reliable and safe feel of a warm hand. "Rose is awake." The face of Murphy, the guitarist of the Miracle Skyhawks, came into view, his black hair tickling Rose's cheeks. He tucked the loose strands behind his ear as he smiled behind his sunglasses, something that the man always wore no matter what and had even refused to show Rose on that special night they shared together when Rose needed a friend the most. "Hello."

"Hey," Rose smiled back and felt a warm energy flood through her. She pushed up into a seated position and looked around the room, noting the grim tension that seemed to hang around the nine other people present. Her smile faltered and she already felt the turning of her stomach that had felt so familiar in recent days. "What's wrong?"

Alisha and Bethany looked to each other, so eager to argue, yet now so reluctant to speak. Murphy also drew back, his mouth settling into a frown. Rose realised with a start that Murphy looked paler than usual, as if he had seen a ghost. She looked at each of the others in the room, trying to discern just what it was that had happened. Leslie Carlson, the young teenager who had a bandage wrapped around his right eye, looked scared and was clenching his hands together so tightly the knuckles were turning white. The tough Sam Gretman sat on a stool with her arms crossed, her lips a thin line. Sticks, the drummer of the Miracle Skyhawks, was trying to keep a hopeful smile on his face but the smile kept flickering back and forth, a bandage wrapped around his head. The poor Rob Winters sat shaking in a corner, looking like he was in complete shock, mute from both fear and the fact that his tongue had been cut out only recently. Finally the civilian that had been forced into the whole situation regarding the List was Werner Remmy, who barely looked like he was holding it together, muttering to himself in his native German.

"Rose," the final member of the group kneeled next to Rose and put a hand on the opposite arm that Murphy had claimed. Jamie Root's face was grim. She was Rose's aunt and a likely ex-member of the DSI just like Rose herself. If anyone would have answers, it would be her. "You have just woken from your surgery."

Rose blinked, realising that Jamie was correct. She _had _hadsurgery. She looked down at her leg or lack thereof and found a strange sense of detachment to the thick white bandage wrapped around and just below the knee, keeping the severed limb sealed. It was the cost of saving Sam from the List. She could feel the faint thrumming of pain now but chose to ignore it as she looked back up at Jamie. "What's happened, Jamie."

"Honestly," Jamie sighed. "I don't truly know. Just after you came out from surgery the alarm started going off and… well…" Jamie shook her head as if she couldn't believe she was saying the words she was saying. "The dead have come back, Rose. Not alive, but…"

"Like zombies?" Rose asked dumbly. She had researched the List to every extent and knew that Death existed yet Jamie must have been pulling her present leg.

"As in 24 Days Later, want to rip us apart, zombies," Bethany said.

"Stop calling them that!" Alisha growled back, staring daggers at Bethany. Bethany glared back. Alisha turned to Rose and it seemed like the girl had aged ten years since Rose last saw her before her surgery. "They came flooding into the hospital. They were already in the streets when we tried to leave. People were screaming, it was chaos. It _is _chaos. We watched people get ripped apart, limb from limb, so much _blood_." Alisha took a breath, hugging herself. "Chances are we're the only ones that are left. Bethany decided we ought to stay instead of run. She saved our lives." Alisha begrudgingly said those last words, as if reluctant to admit that the decision had been the correct one.

"The doors were stuck with bodies of both the dead and the living," Bethany continued. "We would have had no chance." She gestured around the room, which Rose realised was essentially a large supply cupboard. There were cleaning materials, mops, buckets, empty beds and other such general replacements for the hospital. It was also tighter than she realised, the bodies not touching but close to. "If we lay low for a little while, the dead will filter out and we can leave."

"You mean if we let everyone up there get slaughtered," Alisha fired back, anger flush in her cheeks.

"We cannot think of everyone up there. That's naïve, Alisha," Bethany fired back. "We _have _to concentrate on ourselves, not all of Berlin."

"Don't call me naïve!"

"You're barely a child, you don't know what—"

Alisha grit her teeth and stiffened. "You call me that again, I dare you!"

"Stop fighting!" Leslie suddenly said, loud enough for everyone to stop and look at him. He was trembling, one hand resting on the bandage on his eye. "Just stop… fighting. Fighting between ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere. Working together is what we need to do now. What we were supposed to do anyway. So let's just… just calm down. Breath a little. Don't think of… upstairs… and think of here and now. Think of something." He looked up straight at Rose. "You'll help us, right? You used to be DSI, you'll know what this is."

"I… I don't," Rose was still groggy from the sleep and wasn't entirely certain this all wasn't just a bad nightmare. "I spent all my time researching the List and Death. I thought that would be our focus. Turned out it wasn't. I know of something, mentioned, a few times. The Doomsday Clock. All we ever knew about it was that it would be the end-times. It's why we created bunkers all over the world – to house those that needed housing."

"So there we go," Alisha said. "We head to one of these bunkers. That's the plan, right?"

"No," Rose shook her head. "No, I don't think so. We're still on the List. We need to stop."

"You think we're still on the List?" Leslie asked, aghast.

"I don't see a reason why not. There's no reason why the world would be fair on us." Rose pressed her fingers on her nose and squeezed her eyes. They were all looking at her for leadership, she found. She guessed because of her knowledge of the List, her participation in finding them all, it was only natural. Yet what could she do for a situation she knew nothing about? Zombies… the dead… what was that? It was impossible to even think about, let alone plan for it. Yet if they followed the normal rules that media dictated. Aim for the head. Don't get bitten. It was as easy as that.

There was also the issue regarding the Chalice, the last words of her best friend Siddharth. Even thinking about him hurt, just like her father, just like her uncle. Too many losses, too soon, too quick. He had mentioned the Grail, something called the Tor. He had said they'd find what they needed in his laptop but fate was cruel and the laptop had been destroyed. It had been left back at Professor Johann Schneider's house, where last Rose had heard had been laying his faithful deerhound, Jäger, to rest. The destroyed laptop was there though there was no hope of recovering any information from it.

"Rose…?" Murphy gently nudged her. Rose opened her eyes, took a breath, and refused to allow any of the pressure to get to her.

"We have to do what we were always going to do and that is stop the List. The best lead is the lead Siddharth gave us and that was the Chalice. He mentioned the Holy Grail and the Tor, and if anyone is going to know how those things are connected its Johann. We need to get him anyway. He's one of us. If there's anyone we find it's him. We find Johann, we get the information we need, and we go to it. The zomb… the dead we just avoid. Simple as that."

"Simple?" Bethany scoffed though Rose ignored her.

"What about Jade?" Sticks spoke up, leaning forward. Jade Skysong was the last member of the Miracle Skyhawks and a previous survivor of the List.

"Not to mention Axel and Holly," Jamie provided. Axel was another member of the DSI, a German giant of a man, while Holly was an ally recently acquired from a group of four that had caused so much pain for the survivors. Both of whom were now on the List as well. "Tanzi as well." Tanzi Sakamoto. A previous visionary who had been so much help to Rose and the survivors. All four of them had gone with the mysterious Willow on a mission they hadn't had time to explain. God knew where they were now.

"As much as it pains me to say it… We can't do anything for them."

Sticks stood up at this and Bethany spun around to face Rose proper, the disagreement clear in their faces. "We're not leaving Jade," Sticks exclaimed.

"She's one of us," Bethany said firmly. "We need her. She's survived the List. She knows what—"

"Think with your brains, not with your hearts," Murphy said quietly but it was enough to simmer down Sticks and Bethany. "Imagine for a moment that Jade wasn't one of us. Was just like Axel and Holly and Tanzi. Someone we were acquainted with, but not personally. You're fine with leaving them. So you'd be fine with leaving Jade."

"Murphy!"

"You think I don't like it?" Murphy asked, his face under his sunglasses grim. He was still as quiet as ever. Rose had never seen the man so much as raise his voice to call out. "I don't. I hate it. Jade _is _one of us. One of the Miracle Skyhawks. One of the family. Yet if anyone is going to survive out there it's her. You've seen what she is. You've seen what she can do."

"Murphy's right," Rose agreed, nodding. "She's drunk the Nectar. She _will _survive this. Just like Tanzi. Just like the others who drank of that liquid." The Nectar of the Gods. Rose knew little about it but knew enough that it would make Tanzi Sakamoto and Jade Skysong heal from any injuries, thereby wiping them from Death's gaze. They would live a long time and only die after a long and comfortable life. "Axel and Holly are survivors. You saw what Axel did," Rose tried to ignore Alisha flinching at this, "and Holly ran with her crew. They'll fight tooth and nail. And think of what they can do." Everyone was quiet as they thought of exactly that. Axel Daunhauer had the Ability to turn his body into a metal colossus, while Holly was able to turn her body intangible. They all realised that these were Abilities perfectly suited to combat biting teeth and reaching hands.

"Think with our brains…" Bethany sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"That's hard when our hearts are screaming," Sticks frowned. It was evident over the events of the last few days that the gel in his hair had deteriorated. His usual mohawk was slowly falling on either side, casting his face in shadow. "Fine. You're right. Jade's a fighter. She'll find us again. Families always come together."

"So what first?" Jamie asked, looking to Rose. Rose looked at her and tried to discern what she was thinking. If anyone was suited to be a leader, it was Jamie. Jamie was older and wiser and knew about the DSI more than Rose did. Then Rose realised what Jamie was doing. By giving her the role of leader, it meant that she wouldn't have time to dwell on Siddharth's death, nor let the recent deaths of her father and uncle eat away at her. She was grateful.

"One step at a time. We need to get out of the hospital," Rose smiled bitterly. "And considering we're all battered and bruised from the warehouse, it's gonna be a hell of a task."

"It's simple." Sam stood up and spoke for the first time, cracking her neck and stretching her shoulders. "_Oui_, simple." Her accent was still as strong as ever, though she spoke German and English equally as well as her native French tongue. "The strong protect the weak. Rose, Werner, Bethany, Leslie, and Robert. You all stay in the middle of us."

"What?" Bethany's eyes widened.

"Don't argue," Sam said firmly. It seemed she had been taking everything in and was ready to be strong. Perhaps the same feelings were running through her as they had been for Rose. The feeling of rising to the occasion, instead of dwelling on the possibilities. "You're down an arm. That's as good as disabled now."

"It's alright," Sticks smiled a real smile now, patting Bethany on the shoulder. "I'll protect you, Beth,"

"Yeah right," Bethany shook her head but allowed herself to smile as well. "I'd sooner protect myself with both arms gone."

"In that case," Rose offered her arm to Murphy who helped her get to her feet. "Murphy will stay with me and keep an eye on all of us injured." She knew Werner Remmy wasn't injured unlike the rest but the man didn't speak a lick of English and looked like a frightened sheep. There was the possibility the man would bolt as soon as they were out. "Jamie, I want you leading the pack. Alisha, Sam, take up the rear. Keep an eye out for any surprises. I don't know what it's like out there. You do. We work together, we be a team, we make it out of this."

* * *

_**A/N: Leslie Carlson is credited to Can't Get Any Better, Rob Winters to Sinfulwisher, Sam Gretman to one heart that stands alone, and Alisha Sanders to Heroeschamp. **_


	4. Sins

**Sabrina Holland**

**Sins**

_London, England_

It was a strange sight to see the old woman, Doris Crawson, sitting on a deck chair sipping a cup of tea just like she had offered. Sabrina herself nursed the warm cup in her hand though she had yet to take a sip, more taken by the sight of London. She turned back to where Meagan was leaning on the iron railing and set her teacup down on the edge of the wall, crossing her arms.

The chaos that had no doubt happened had already died down by the first time Doris had shown the two girls the skyline of London. The small figures roaming around in packs like wolves were the dead, grown solemn and content with their spoils. Lines of traffic stuck around the streets from the failed flight of the London civilians, doors hanging open, windows smashed, and some engines still trundling in a dead stop. Most who had been bitten had turned, though there were more than a few bodies littered around the streets that Sabrina could see, torn apart beyond all recognition. Up high on this building, Sabrina felt far away from it all.

The world had changed from when she had been worried about Death and the List.

"This is terrifying…" Meagan muttered. She had been quiet for a while now. Doris hadn't explained anything, just let them watch over the skyline and see it for herself. "If we hadn't been chased by the dead ourselves, I wouldn't believe it. Some kind of hoax. A stunt. Something other than what it is."

"You would be surprised by how many thought it was a hoax, right until their limbs were being torn off," Doris said nonchalantly, sipping her tea with elegance. Sabrina found it almost insulting how calm Doris was about the fact that humans were being killd like sheep to the slaughter. Though that might also have been her biases to the DSI. Eugene Hawk was an asshole who tried to ruin everything due to some grudge that Sabrina didn't care about. Doris didn't give that same feeling, but Sabrina felt it would be hard to like her. "A lot of supernatural things people have a predisposition for ignoring or thinking are fake. Everyone laughed at those ghost shows. And while often silly and stretched for drama, a lot more accurate than you might think."

Meagan and Sabrina stared at Doris for a moment before turning back to the skyline. There was a faint thin sheen of red from a block of flats that had gone up in flames.

"What kind of world did you get me into?" Meagan asked, leaning on her elbows and staring at the north bank of the Thames where Big Ben stood stalwart among the encroaching ruin of London.

"I didn't get you into any kind of world," Sabrina said, frowning.

"It was just me and Trent. I knew when I had that feeling that I never should have gone to Epsilon. But Trent wanted me to go. I was always a sucker for what he wanted to do," Sabrina didn't fail to notice Meagan's face fall. "Where do you think he ended up? I never got to bury him. The lorry came at the café and then he was taken away in the ambulance. I had to stay and that Hawk fellow from the DSI came and then…" her hand hovered over her bruised and mottled throat.

"I know where Trenton Ferris is," Doris suddenly piped up, having watched the conversation from her deck chair. She slowly stood up, picking up the shotgun leaning against the metal of the chair and hoisting it on her shoulder. "Closer than you may think."

"What?" Meagan looked at her.

"Why do you think you two were stored in our mausoleum? This is the TRSI building, the Treatment and Recovery of the Supernaturally Influenced. Treating those that are affected. Recovering those that can't be treated. Bodies. Cadavers. The things you were before you suddenly started walking and talking again." Doris was already walking, leaving Meagan and Sabrina no choice but to trail behind, still not following her train of thought. "The List was always a focus of the DSI, at least before the Doomsday Clock got closer and the Board had a change of heart. We always wondered _why _people were chosen. Is it truly as random as it looks or is there a reason?"

"We were put there because we were visionaries…" Sabrina mused as they started climbing down the stairs.

"Observant, but not entirely true," Doris said and Sabrina noticed that she carried the shotgun with a frightening animalistic ease. She would be ready to swing and shoot whenever necessary, though the TRSI building was secure as any building could be. The danger was outside in London, not in the building. At least not on the ground floor and above. Sabrina wasn't looking forward to leaving the safety of these walls. "We have often wondered if visionaries were different than others on the List and that did put you in special importance. But no, any confirmed members of a List, if their bodies can be recovered, are placed in our mausoleum, along with bodies of other supernaturally influenced men and woman."

Meagan came to a sudden stop at this, forcing Sabrina to hold the railing of the stairs to stop herself from tipping head over heels. "He's there?" Her voice was filled with hope. Then that hope faltered and stuttered. "Trent's there…"

"All of them are from your List. Eddy, Corey, Lily… Trenton."

"I didn't see them… I saw Lily, and ourselves of course," Sabrina said, casting her memory back. To be fair, she was still working through the shock of being back in the land of the living and may not have be paying that much attention.

"They're a little way down. Between the construction site and Corey Walker's death other supernatural events happened. But sure as the day is here they're there."

"Then Trent could be alive… Just like us…" It sounded as if Meagan couldn't decide whether to be immensely happy that Trenton was so close or whether to be truly horrified that he was down there with those walking dead. "If he is… If he is alive… or…"

"We have to find him," Sabrina was surprised at the firmness of her own voice. Meagan turned around to look her, evidently as surprised as Sabrina felt. Nevertheless, Sabrina continued, "Either way, we have to find him. Trenton means a lot to you doesn't he? As much as Ruby means to me, I'd guess."

"I…" Meagan seemed ready to protest but her shoulders slumped in defeat and she sat down on the step, her head in her hands. Doris stopped at the landing, waiting with perfect patience. "I love him." She let out a sound that was a mix of a chuckle and a sob. "I've always known ever since I met him but I never… not even to myself… not out loud… I've never said it. He was my star that guided me. He was always there for me. We were close as friends but I always wondered… If I did something… said something… that we could have been more. I never wanted to break that friendship though. I was too scared. What if it all went wrong and I lost him forever?"

Meagan's grief trailed off and Sabrina found an awkward feeling at the pit of her stomach. What ifs and maybes. Those were what made her life. What if she had never gone to the Ferret Inn? What if she had acted on her vision like Eugene Hawk always said? What if she had never pushed Jake off that cliff. Maybe they would have found a different way to stop the List. Maybe they would have been leaving happily, even now. But those maybes and ifs would have led her down a different route, a route where she wouldn't have met Ruby. That's a world Sabrina didn't want to be a part of.

Sabrina decided to sit down next to Meagan and place a tentative hand on her shoulder. Meagan twitched as if struck and looked at Sabrina with surprisingly dry eyes. Though Sabrina quickly realised that this was likely due to this undead state. Sabrina jerked her hand away, forgetting for an instant that this was a woman she had killed with her very hands. "Look, Meagan… I…" Sabrina chewed on her tongue before continuing. "Perhaps from me it isn't convincing or sounds false but I know what it's like to love someone. In my life, I've loved two. One I killed and one I came close to. It's a force that drives us to do things we wouldn't normally do. That doesn't excuse my actions, don't get me wrong. All I've thought about since I woke up again is Ruby. Is finding her, is making sure she's alive… yet… yet part of me knows, part of me _knows _that there is a possibility that she didn't make it. If she didn't… Then she'd be one of those things out there. If that was the case… if she was like that… I'd have to find her regardless. To… deal with her. That's what she'd want, I think." Sabrina frowned. "Who am I kidding, I never could get inside that optimistic girls head. But my point is, Trenton is down there, one way or the other. You love him and it's the kind of love I can understand. The kind of love I've felt. So we find him."

"I don't understand…" Meagan turned away again. "Why do something like that for me? For Trenton? You, who did so much to ruin it, who could have prevented his death and chose not to. You, who in all your knowledge, did nothing?"

"I know jackshit about all of this," Sabrina shrugged. "Like I said, I'll make no excuses but all I ever wanted was to get Ruby at least to the very end. I changed my mind… I decided that she should make it, not me. Yet the things I did… Ignoring the Epsilon survivors, not doing anything to help, then everything at that construction site. You… Lily… I feel that. I feel those choices on my skin. I thought that by leaving this world I wouldn't have to live with that guilt yet here I am, as if fate is laughing at me. To be fair, fate was always laughing at me. So I feel those sins upon my soul, Meagan. You're one of the ones I hurt the most. I'll do what I can. I don't expect forgiveness. I don't deserve forgiveness. But at the very least… At the very least if I can help just one of those people I harmed… then surely that's a good thing?"

Sabrina came a stop, feeling more than a little awkward. She was never good at giving pep talks, especially not to those that she had killed. Meagan slowly pushed herself up off the step, crossing her arms. The blue in her hair was nearly completely gone, faded to a faint turquoise. It brought to mind a question Sabrina had avoided and Doris hadn't brought up. How long had it been since that construction site? Sabrina shook those thoughts away quickly and focused back in on Meagan. She was strong, Sabrina could tell that in an instant. That conviction and love for Trenton kept her going through all of this impossibility.

"Maybe it is a chance," Meagan said after a long pause.

"A chance for what?"

"To get to know what you're like when you're not running for your life. All I knew of you Sabrina was the List, my hatred towards you. You're right, you don't deserve my forgiveness, for Trenton or myself. Yet we were given this new chance. It would make sense to make the most of it. Sorry, Doris."

"Not a problem, my dear. We don't really have any rush to be anywhere," Doris smiled. "I think it's rather a sweet thing. To have someone so important to you. I never did have time for that kind of thing. The Department kept me busy and before I knew it I was an old fogey with little time left," Doris let out a laugh and continued at a casual pace.

* * *

Sabrina stood at the elevator doors next to Meagan, tapping the point of her knife into her scarred hand that was slightly off-centre from the construction site. What they were about to do was paramount to suicide though Doris' theory seemed to make sense. At their very essence, Sabrina and Meagan both were dead in all sense of the word. They had no pulse, they didn't need to breath, they couldn't sweat or bleed or cry. So, Doris theorised, what separated them from the dead? Thought, that was all.

"Just remember," Doris said. "If you go slowly and quietly, they'll barely recognise you're there."

"Easy for you to say," Meagan sniffed, holding Doris' shotgun nervously in her hands. Doris had explained that it really was quite as easy as pointing and shooting, at least before you needed to reload. "Did you not see how they were trying to eat us?"

"Only because we were moving and shouting," Sabrina said, believing in Doris' idea. The woman was smart, Sabrina could tell that. Not infuriatingly smart like Eugene Hawk, but rather a sense of wisdom that came from age. Sabrina trusted those kinds of smarts. Though smart wasn't really a word that Sabrina liked to think as she wasn't certain whether what _she _was planning was really smart at all.

"So we go in, find Trent…" Meagan said more to herself as if to reinforce her courage. "Come back. Simple as that."

"Simple as that," Doris confirmed. "Are you ready for both possibilities though Miss Thompson?"

"He's alive," Meagan said firmly. "Like us. He has to be."

Sabrina wondered about this. There could be any number of reasons why Sabrina and Meagan were alive when the others were not. The main thing that Meagan and Sabrina shared were that they were both visionaries. Both had seen the fire at Epsilon though Sabrina had been too worried about getting herself and Ruby out to act on it and Meagan didn't even know what was going on. Yet again Sabrina could feel those _ifs _and _maybes _creeping into her mind. What if Sabrina had decided to actively save everyone at Epsilon and actually worked with them? Sabrina switched that part of her brain off and got ready for the choice she needed to make.

"Doris?" Sabrina asked. "Is there a key for those mausoleum doors?"

Doris nodded with a curious expression and reached into one of the many black pouches on her belt and pulled out a silver key. "I do. I am the keyholder of the TRSI building after all."

"Could we take it?" Sabrina asked as carefully as she could, deliberately putting in a bit of moroseness and curiosity into her voice. She didn't think Meagan would catch anything in her tone but Doris was a completely different matter. "If things don't go to plan and we're attacked… I'd like to make sure the doors are locked so the dead don't come for you. I know there is an elevator between you and them but… you never know… I'd rather you be safe. You've helped us so much. It would be the least we could do."

Doris looked at Sabrina with those wise eyes of hers and Sabrina realised that Doris had seen into her very heart with an ease that scared Sabrina. Sabrina felt her stomach drop as her plan slipped between her fingers but was surprised to find Doris gently throwing the keys towards her. Sabrina caught them in her damaged fist and stared at Doris. "Do what you must," Doris said, staring directly at Sabrina. "I expect the two of you back, though."

"Of course," Sabrina nodded firmly. At least one of them would come back, Sabrina knew that much. She pressed her thumb on the elevator and the doors jerked open. "Thank you, Doris. I don't know what we are but you've treated us as if we were still human."

"You _are_ human," Doris said with a kindly smile akin to a grandmother looking at her grandchildren. She reached up and tapped both Sabrina and Meagan on the forehead with her fingers. "At least in there you are. _That's _what makes humans, not bodies or clothes. But the mind. The very _soul_."

The soul. Sabrina thought on this idea as she and Meagan stepped inside the small elevator together. Sabrina had never believed in a soul. At first she had never thought about it as she grew up, concentrating more on school and studies than ideas as deep as the soul. After the Ferret Inn Sabrina had often thought about the idea of moving on. Being so close to death and seeing her parents in the state they were in after the fire… Naturally she wondered whether they had gone anywhere else. Heaven. The afterlife. Sabrina had quickly decided that thinking such things were a simple coping mechanism. For a while, she had firmly believed that dead was dead and that was it. To be so hopeful in an afterlife seemed like a _false _hope.

That all changed in the ruins of the construction sight as the blade slipped between her ribs with that final kiss to Ruby. She could distinctly remember, behind ensuing Ruby was to live, that she would want to see her again. She could remember for that moment about the possibility of being given a second chance or at the very least watching Ruby from somewhere else. And here she was, walking and talking and given that second chance. It was as disconcerting as it was electrifying.

"I appreciate what you are risking," Meagan spoke and Sabrina jolted out of her thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"You're risking finding Ruby again. If something goes wrong down here, you might never get that chance to see her."

"With or without me, Ruby will be fine. Perhaps better without me."

"You want to see her again, though?"

"More than anything," Sabrina said with a bittersweet smile. "Yet I need to put my own goals behind yours for now. I'll find Ruby, sooner or later. First we need to find Trenton."

"Hrm," Meagan was quiet for a moment as the elevator descended. "So what will be the plan to get out of London? You saw the streets. It's a nightmare out there."

"We go underground," Sabrina had already thought about this. "Follow the trainlines. They'll lead us to outskirt boroughs and more open area which will make it easier to escape."

"But doesn't Ruby live in London."

"I wonder about that…" Sabrina clicked her tongue. "I think some time has passed. I also think Ruby wouldn't want to stay. Too many bad memories. Ruby doesn't do bad memories. She's too optimistic for that. I don't know where she is but I don't think she's in London." Before Meagan could respond the doors slid open back into the lobby that led into the mausoleum. "Let's go." Sabrina led the way to the doors and was relieved to see through the small square window that the dead had slowly filtered away from the door. She pulled the unlocked door open and stiffened, fully expecting those death-defying screams to echo out again.

Only a few glanced Sabrina's way as she stepped into the massive room of steel doors. Her grip loosened slightly on her knife as she instinctively took in a breath, though she was quick to remind herself that she didn't need to do that anymore. Instead, she gathered her courage and turned around to face Meagan in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" Meagan asked.

"I am going to be honest with you," Sabrina said slowly. "I don't think Trenton is alive. Not like us."

"What?" Meagan narrowed her eyes, any kindness that she had towards Sabrina quickly filtering away.

"If he is alive, then that's wonderful," Sabrina barrelled on, preparing herself. "Yet if he's not… then you shouldn't see him like that." She thrust her thumb towards the dead behind her. "You don't want your last memory of him being like that. Without thought and without feeling. You don't want to think of Trenton as one of the dead, but rather as one of the living. So I'm going at this alone." With that, Sabrina suddenly shoved Meagan with the palm of her hand, sending the smaller girl staggering backwards. Sabrina closed the door and locked it with the key indicated by Doris. It locked with a _click _and Sabrina turned quickly, raising her knife in case the dead had any ideas.

Instead they barely glanced at her and Sabrina felt safe enough to start moving. Just like Doris had recommended, slow and steady. The dead were uninterested in her even as she brushed past them and it horrified Sabrina to think that they saw her as one of them. One of the dead. Though wasn't that what she was? Dead… Thankfully Meagan was sensible enough not to shout and scream behind the door. The silence was bliss and meant the dead wouldn't be distracted. The girl would certainly be fuming, no doubt, but Sabrina didn't have time for that. It was the same for her, she realised now. If Ruby was… gone… she wouldn't want to see her like this. That smiling face, that red hair, the impossible positivity, all gone. Sabrina shivered and shook the thought of a zombified Ruby out of her head, focusing instead on her mission.

It didn't take as long as she thought to reach the doors where she and Meagan had been kept, with Lily Talbot's next to them. If only Lily had come back. She was resourceful and spritely and surprisingly intelligent. Though Sabrina had little doubt that she likely would have attacked Sabrina without a second thought. In the short time Sabrina had known her, Lily Talbot had been a spitfire, especially with everything that had happened at the club. It was then that Sabrina realised something strange. Meagan, Lily, and herself were all at the construction site, so it made sense they were together. But where was Bridge?

The enigmatic Bridge was the strange tall and slender musician who had allied himself, if you could call it that, with Ruby and a reluctant Sabrina to find answers. He had proved to be much more than a musician and had been up in the construction site when it collapsed. There was no chance he could have survived, was there? No, it was impossible. The only reason Ruby was alive was because Sabrina had used Ruby's own hand to kill herself. That was the rule of the List – killed a loved one and you'll be off it. The idea that Bridge had a loved one was laughable at least and foolish at best. He was a lone wolf, haunted by the stalker-like Lily. He certainly wasn't one of the dead as he would have been standing head and shoulders above all the rest.

Deciding to ask Doris about Bridge later, Sabrina instead focused on moving further down the row until she came to a sudden stop. It was a familiar face though it was not Trenton. Instead, it was a face Sabrina had only seen on the stage of Epsilon and then once on a TV report on his death. Eddy Cool. Someone who smiled nearly as much as Ruby yet had been the first life lost on the list. Sabrina could see the gouge in his chest from where he had been impaled by something thin and slender. Seeing the man with a smile without said smile made her think of Ruby again and only confirmed the fact that if Ruby was gone then Sabrina would not want to see her like that.

"…I'm sorry…" Sabrina muttered, quiet as a mouse. Even those small words drew a few glances of interest from the dead but only that. She moved slowly towards Eddy Cool and with one quick movement swung her knife up under his jaw. Immediately the former host of Epsilon went slack and fell to the floor. Sabrina was already moving away as the dead turned to look at him, though their dead minds couldn't process that somebody else was in there with them.

As always, fate seemed to laugh at Sabrina. Almost as soon as she moved away from Eddy Cool she found herself facing another familiar face. This one was mottled and burnt near beyond recognition but Sabrina could remember watching the young man burn in the bar, covered in alcohol and pleading to anyone who would listen. Yet no-one could help Corey Walker as he burned. Corey's dead form turned towards Sabrina as if recognising her and Sabrina went with the same plan as she had Eddy, muttering those same words, "I'm sorry." She moved forward and swung the knife up as quick and clean as she could. It impaled the burned flesh of the young man and dropped him like a sack of flour. She pulled her knife free with a _thunk _and moved closer to the wall, where the section Doris had indicated came into view.

The names were close together.

E. COOL, 42. C. WALKER, 19. T. FERRIS, 18.

She looked at each of their names in turn and found herself struck by a sudden inspiration, perhaps taken from the jacket she wore that once belonged to Lily Talbot, emblazoned with the studded eagle. She chose Eddy Cool first and opened up the door, gently pulling the tray open to see his possessions. She chose the tie and wrapped it around her wrist, pulling it tight. Next she went into Corey Walker's metal tomb and found most of his possessions were nothing more than charred clothes. However it seemed as if his beanie had managed to sustain most of the flames and was only charred in places. Sabrina grabbed it and pulled it over her head. It was a little too large for her, forcing her to fold it upwards. She could smell the char but nevertheless it served its purpose, just like Eddy's tie. A reminder of her sins.

Finally she opened the container for Trenton and suddenly found herself face-to-face with the snarling form of the zombified young man. His face was grey and mottled, twisted in a grotesque fashion as his mouth opened wide and then shut like a fish. Pale eyes flickered towards Sabrina, recognising her as something the others were not. It was clear he hadn't managed to get out of his steel tray yet now he opened his breath and Sabrina quickly realised what was about to happen – just too late.

The scream was ear-piercing and Sabrina drew back in pain, letting out a shout. She backed into the body of another zombie and heard another screech in her ear, sending reverberations bounding back and forth in her brain. She quickly crouched down just as the closest zombie reached for her. She heard the screams echo as each and every zombie opened their mouths wide and screamed. It was now or never. "I'm sorry!" She said through gritted teeth, swinging her knife and impaling it deep within the skull of Trenton Ferris. He shook and came to a jerked halt. Sabrina pulled the knife free and quickly reached into the tray and grabbed something solid, a black and silver studded belt with a silver chain.

Sabrina turned and prepared to run only to find herself face to face with the rotted teeth of one of the dead. It lunged forward and before she could do anything it dug its teeth into her collar-bone and pulled out a great chunk of flesh. "AAARGH!" Sabrina let out a yell and pushed the zombie away, clutching at her shoulder in pain. Somewhere in her brain she wondered if the pain was a placebo but either way it hurt like hell. She swung her knife wildly at another zombie and felt another stinging pain at her forearm. Another zombie tore a chunk of flesh from her and Sabrina kicked it away, feeling its skull buckling under her foot.

She quickly realised that she needed to go, quick.

Taking advantage of the temporary hole by the fallen zombie, Sabrina leapt over his body and started at a sprint. Just like before, she didn't feel any of the exertion but yet she felt that pain so clearly in her collarbone and her elbow. A flare of horror rose up in her as she ran, dodging left and right as the dead lunged at her. Zombie bites. Zombie bites! What was it that every form of zombie media ever said about zombie bites? "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Sabrina cursed, swinging her knife and lodging it in the eye socket of a zombie. She pulled it free and spun on her heel, using Trenton's belt as a flail and smashing it into the face of another zombie with a satisfying thunk.

If she was bitten, that meant she was infected. If she was infected, that meant she would turn. If she turned, that would mean she would never see Ruby again. Sabrina's fear turned into anger and she spun on her heel again to face the zombies chasing her down. She swung the belt again and felt stagnant blood spatter against her face. She could feel something growing in her, some kind of bloodlust. Perhaps it was the realization that her time was suddenly limited. "I'll see her again!" _Thwack! _"None of you fuckers are gonna stop me!" _Thwack! _"I'll find her!" Sabrina raised her knife hand but a zombie took the opportunity to clamp his mouth around her pinkie finger, taking it off in one clear chunk. Sabrina let out a yell and backed away, looking at the missing finger with a sense of strange awe.

_Be sensible. You're never going to see Ruby if you stay like this_.

Sabrina ignored the voice in her head, stabbing her knife into the jaw of the one who had taken her pinkie finger. Rabid hands were groping at her, grabbing at her jacket, her arms, her hair, her legs, her ankles.

_Run. Run if you want to see her again._

Sabrina kicked at the ones crawling on the floor, smashing noses into bloody smears and caving in skulls. She barely understood what was happening but she knew that she was killing them, she was winning!

_You cannot fight them all, you cannot do it! _

"I CAN!" Sabrina roared as one of the zombies on the floor took a chunk out of her ankle. Sabrina fell to the floor in a heap and managed to drive the heel of her foot into the forehead of the biter twice, knocking it away. Now she was among a forest of legs yet this didn't stop her. She swung her knife into the kneecap of a zombie, using it as a lever to stand up again.

_Think of Ruby! _

"…Sabrina…."

_You're throwing your second chance away! _

"…Sabrina!"

A knife to the ear of another zombie. The belt wrapped around neck of another and knocked it to the ground, knocking others down like skittles. Another zombie bit into her shoulder, taking a chunk of leather jacket but Sabrina barely felt it this time. She dispatched of this one with ease and spun around, her knife flashing. She had trained in combat with Jake Conway back in Cornwall and all that training was coming back to her as if a day hadn't passed.

"Sabrina!" Her name finally drove itself into her brain and Sabrina stopped as a zombie lunged towards her throat, teeth gnashing. However with a great _BANG _its head turned into bloody mush and a hand reached out, grabbing Sabrina by the sleeve and pulling her through the throng of zombies. Sabrina's bloodlust slowly died down as Meagan dragged her through the horde. Every so often the girl would fire off the shotgun, the recoil enough to change their path. Yet any zombie that tried to reach for Meagan Sabrina would quickly dispatch of with her knife or with Trenton's belt. She may be bitten, but got forbid she le Meagan be bitten.

They finally reached the door and Sabrina saw that Meagan must have shot the lock clear off its hinges with the shotgun. Meagan went first, dragging Sabrina in. In this space with a lot less zombies Sabrina finally lost her bloodlust completely and realised what a fool she had been. She stood and looked down at herself, covered in bites from the zombies. Chunks of flesh were missing from various parts of her though were barely oozing blood. She supposed that was part of being dead. Being dead…

_How could you have been such a fool? How could you be infected if you're already dead? _

"…the door… Jesus christ, Sabrina, listen to me, the door!" Meagan's voice came back into hearing again and Sabrina turned around, seeing Meagan struggling with the door. She quickly moved in, joining Meagan. "You're an idiot, Sabrina Holland, an absolute idiot!"

"I had to!" Sabrina fired back. "You didn't want to see him like that!"

Meagan flinched as the two wrestled with the door. "You mean…"

"He was gone."

Meagan was silent, her eyebrows furrowed. Then she grit her teeth. "We need to go. There's no point being down here."

"You go first. I'll follow."

"…Sabrina! Don't-"

"I'm stronger. I'm not planning on killing myself! I'll hold the door, you get the elevator open! I'll follow!"

Meagan nodded and after a moment of hesitation dived away from the door. She leapt towards the elevator, bashing her fist into the button. The doors jerked open. "Come on, Sabrina."

"On it," Sabrina pushed away from the door towards the elevator but suddenly found herself jerked backwards. She twisted around and saw that her left hand had been grabbed by the dead through the hole in the door caused by the shotgun. "Oh, you fucke-AH!" One of them bit into her middle finger, tearing it right off to join the missing pinkie. Another took a bite of her palm. They were literally eating her alive.

"I'm com-"

"Stay in there!" Sabrina commanded Meagan. She would see Ruby again. She would do anything to see Ruby again. Her right hand held her knife and Sabrina took only a moment to consider before driving it into her left wrist. The placebo pain screamed at her but Sabrina knew it was only a false pain brought on by memories of real pain. She levered the knife and tore through the tendons of her wrist, sawing through bone and muscle until she suddenly came lose and fell to her rear. She looked at the stub of her left wrist and grinning an almost maniacal grin. _Anything for Ruby! _

The door buckled and Sabrina realised she had to go now. She scrambled and stumbled onto her feet and dived into the elevator, letting Meagan slam the door shut. The elevator rumbled and shuddered and started to rise as the dead beat fruitlessly on the outside of the door. Sabrina stumbled backwards against the wall of the elevator, letting out a small laugh. "Hah… Hahah… Hahahahaha!" She looked up at the ceiling triumphantly with a Cheshire grin before looked at Meagan. The girl looked positively frightened. Sabrina calmed herself and tucked her knife into her belt loop before reaching into her jacket where she had slipped Trenton's belt. She offered it to Meagan. "It was all I could grab."

Meagan looked at the belt, touched it with a finger, before shaking her head. "No. I don't want it.

"Fair enough," Sabrina said quietly, attempting to loop it over her waist though failing spectacularly with the lack of a left hand. "Stupid thing-"

"Here," Meagan stood close to Sabrina and threaded the belt through the loops, clicking it shut. She lingered for a moment, staring at the belt, the memory of Trent no doubt strong, before moving away. "You did all that. For those?"

Sabrina looked at Eddy's tie wrapped around her wrist. Trent's belt around her waist. She placed her remaining hand on the Corey's beanie. They joined Lily's emblazoned jacket. "These are mementos." Sabrina muttered. "Memories of my sins. They died because of me. Eddy, Lily, Corey… Trenton. So I'll keep these with me, so I can strive to be better. If it costs me my body…" She looked down at the missing chunks of flesh again, feeling no pain at all now. "Or if it costs me my hand…" Sabrina raised the stub and once again noticed that what little blood there was was oozing gently. "No matter what, Meagan, I want to prove myself to Ruby. To be a Sabrina Holland she can be proud of. Not the Sabrina Holland who killed you. Not the Sabrina Holland who killed herself. But someone new. Better. Free of sin. I will get there. I promise you that, I will get there."

* * *

**A/N:- Happy new year! An extra long chapter, and once I thouroughly enjoyed writing. A little undead cameos from a few of our original List and some story progression for one of my favorite characters in Sabrina. I hope you all start this year off with a bang and I will see you next time as we move on to the fourth POV of my seven. **


	5. The Need to Smile

**Ruby Ascot**

**The Need to Smile**

_Eastbourne, England_

"Shh, it's okay… It's okay…" Ruby cooed, pulling a strand of hair from Isabella's sweat-drenched forehead, hooking it behind her ear. Isabella didn't respond, the fever taking her body. She was gently writhing under the covers, unable to stay in one position for long at all. Her black hair was splayed out on the damp pillow underneath her and her face twitched and flickered with expression, though her eyes remained closed as they had been since what had happened at the Purple Pike.

Ruby could feel her heart tighten at these thoughts and instinctively glanced to the window set in the western wall. All she could see was the blue sky stained with black ribbons of smoke. The clouds were full and white, obscenely picturesque considering the situation. The pain in her jaw from her clenched teeth reminded Ruby to look back to Isabella, her only focus. She couldn't do anything else. Her hand curled into a fist at this thought and it frustrated her to admit defeat. Yet what could she do when the dead had conquered the town?

She had seen it happen from her window, felt the strange confusion soar through this cursed town before that confusion made way for fear. The dead came like a storm, seemingly coming from out of nowhere, descending on the populace with no warning. Ruby had watched with shock as the dead tore into the carpark of the New General Hospital. She had immediately sprinted down to the lobby to do what she could but it was too late. The dead were blocking the doors and the pale blue walls of the hospital were splashed with bright red blood. The receptionist was laid across his desk, guts spilling from his stomach cavity. Patients from the waiting room had been brutalised. One woman had been screaming as two the dead played a fatal game of tug of war with her body.

What could she do? Ruby may have had the Nectar of the Gods flowing through her veins but she could still be injured before she healed, still be torn apart, still be targeted. What good would she have been like that? So she had run back the way she came, trying to warn everyone.

It was chaos.

Panic run rampant at her warnings and before she knew it they were trying to flee, doctors, nurses, and patients alike. The dead swarmed through the corridors like ants and slaughtered all who fled without remorse. Doctors were pushing their patients to the ground to escape, nurses jostled with each other to save themselves. When the panic hit, none listened to Ruby. She tried and tried, grabbing at arms and shoulders but she would be pushed or punched away. Ruby had no choice but to head back to Isabella's room and barricade herself within.

Yet when she had arrived, she found Isabella in the throes of a terrible fever and Ruby was suddenly filled with such a hopelessness that it scared her. She didn't know what to do, didn't know how to treat something like this, didn't even know if this was a repercussion of what had happened at the Purple Pike.

Isabella Pine had been one of many fatalities when Death had paid his visit to Ruby's restaurant. With a simple wave of his hand he had killed the patrons and proceeded to interrogate Ruby. She could still feel the pain from the knives he had slid into her hands, pinning her against the wall. Yet Death had said strange things. He had said that he wasn't the cause of the List, the events that had plagued Ruby's life. Then with another wave of his hand he had brought Isabella back, just like that. At first, Isabella had been conscious but then she had fallen into a deep sleep and hadn't woke since, so Ruby had brought her to the New General Hospital, built to replace the original after the explosions that had rocked the town.

All Ruby could do was try to wait out the fever. She already knew where to go. If anywhere was safe in all of this, it was Naomi Collado's mansion-turned-rescue-shelter. It had acres of land surrounded by high fencing. As long as the gates were closed and as long as they stayed close, Ruby was sure it was safe. Naomi and Zach and the adults would keep the kids safe. They would give their lives for them. Yet there was no chance of dragging Isabella there herself. So she sat. And waited. And cursed her lack of strength.

The scream was so loud that Ruby flinched and jolted to her feet.

Something slammed into the door, shaking it in its hinges. Ruby grimaced as the lampstand bent in the handles of the door. This wasn't good. She had been expecting something like this and had been exceptionally lucky the dead hadn't found her yet. The door shook again. Ruby took a deep breath and picked up the snapped table leg she had prepared for a weapon while she had waited out the storm. She had scraped off any loose shards of wood, creating one long stake of a leg. She held it in front of her, prepared to fight to save Isabella's life.

The door shook again. How many? Four? Five? Ruby's eyes darted around the room. She would need to stand in front of the bed but what if they pushed past her? No, better lead them to the other side of the room. Maybe circle around them and leave out the door they'd burst through. Would they ignore Isabella? Only if she was quiet. But the girl was moaning very softly in her feverish condition. That was too much sound. Ruby would have to be louder. Distract them somehow. Figure it out, Ruby, figure it out like you always do.

The faint pressure on her hand surprised her and Ruby looked down to see Isabella had managed to grab her hand, squeezing tightly on Ruby's hand. "Izzy!" Ruby whispered, happiness filling her only to flood out again. Isabella's eyes were now open but it was clear she wasn't seeing much of the hospital room. Her face was red, sweat dripping down her cheeks.

"…I didn't…" Isabella murmured nonsensically. "…Want to fit in… Want to… Did what I did…"

"Izzy, shh, please," Ruby said desperately, watching the door shake in its hinges. "Be quie-"

"Em!? Sam!?" Isabella's voice echoed desperately around the room and Ruby flinched. The beating on the door came to a stop. Her grip was painfully tight in Ruby's hand. Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and Isabella fell back into her crazed slumber.

"Izzy…" Ruby muttered, sorrow filling her voice. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Isabella had been caught up in this. She was only here because of Death and his actions at the Purple Pike. All she had wanted to do was change and that was why she had gotten a job at the Purple Pike, attracted to Ruby's optimism and happiness. All that had done was led her here. Ruby often led people to hospital beds.

Before Ruby could dwell on this train of thought the scream echoed out, twice as loud as before, and the door burst from its hinges. The undead man stood in the doorway, shoulders heaving. His eyes were glassy, his clothes bloodstained. There was a great chunk missing from his neck, leaving tendons and the windpipe fully visible. He cocked his head towards Ruby.

"C'mon then," Ruby pried her hand from Isabella's grip and stepped to the other side of the room, the undead turning his head watching his prey. Ruby held the table-leg in front of her with firm resolve and took another breath. "COME ON!"

At this provocation the undead man charged, arms reaching out towards Ruby. Ruby hadn't expected such speed and was tackled to the floor, the table-leg skittering next to Isabella's bed. Ruby's eyes widened in horror as the gnashing teeth of the undead man came down on her. She pushed at his shoulders and barely kept the feral biting away from her cheek.

Ruby realised that she didn't have the strength to hold this man back for long. It was too strong, animalistic in his intent. Ruby knew she could heal from any injury due to her Nectar but if these were truly what they seemed… If they were zombies… then they would be carrying the infection. Would the Nectar fight off the infection? Ruby didn't want to find out. Yet what could she do? Her arms were already numb with the pressure of keeping the man back.

"Hold on!" The shout was foreign to Ruby and suddenly the undead man was thrown boldly off her. He hit the wall and scampered to his feet, heaving like the animal he was. A portly man had been the one to throw the undead man, dressed in the purple shirt of a porter for the hospital. "Go on, run girl,"

"Not without Izzy," Ruby stood up.

"You're gonna have to leave—"

"Not without her!" Ruby snarled, feeling that feeling that rose up in her ever since she had consumed the Nectar. It was an angry beast Ruby had never had to deal with before yet the Nectar drew out her emotions if she wasn't careful. "Not without her."

Before the porter could respond the zombie charged him like a bull. The portly man stepped to the side and stuck his leg out, tripping the zombie with ease. Ruby snatched up her table-leg from the floor and lifted it overhead, but was surprised to find the man stopping her with a hand, a strange expression in his wide brown eyes. "No!"

"What?"

"Don't kill him!"

"I—" Ruby felt the horror of it rise in her as the porter tore the beads of the blinds from the window and knelt next to the zombie, tying his hands with a surprisingly nimble movement.

"They may look like this," the porter panted, stepping up from his trussed-up opponent. "But what's to say we can't cure them?" He looked to Ruby. "So it's not necessary to kill them. Not if we can avoid it. I'm glad to find someone like you, though. Someone not like them." He offered a thick hand. "The name's Isiah."

Ruby ignored the hand, horrified now at what she had been so quick to assume. Yes, she had seen the zombies tear apart people down in the lobby but what's to say this man was wrong? What if they were just diseased and could be cured. Hadn't Ruby seen much more impossible things? Hell, she was a walking, talking, impossible thing. Why had she been so quick to violence, to assume the worst? She could have murdered somebody without even batting an eyelid. Her stomach roiled and Ruby backed against the window, balking and nauseous.

"Hey, hey, it's okay now," Isiah rushed forward, putting a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I know things are a little nuts right now, but we gotta stick together." He turned to look at Isabella and Ruby saw his own dark skin pale. "Oh no. No, I didn't realise she was alive, I just thought—" He stepped towards Isabella and placed a hand on her forehead. "I would never have asked you to leave her behind if I had realised… This fever is bad. Has she been bitten?"

"No!" Ruby felt defensive at this question, being more forceful than intended.

"Woah, hey, I didn't mean anything by it. Just a bite would cause a fever, probably." Isiah rubbed the back of his bald head. "Whether or not bites turn them… Well, I know what media says but this ain't media anymore. The rules might be different. I'll carry her to Doc."

"Doc?" Ruby asked, forcing her emotions to get back into check. This Nectar may have saved her life but she didn't enjoy the emotions it forced through her.

"Doctor Barrett. Me and him… avoided the worst of it in the lobby. We waited for the dead to filter out and we're looking through each floor for survivors so we can get out of here."

"How many have you found?"

"Just you two so far," Isiah murmured, grief swelling up in his body. Ruby was shocked at the kindness of this man. He had risked everything after escaping that lobby to look for survivors. That was a valuable trait to have and a rare one at that.

"Ruby," Ruby said, offering her hand. "I'm Ruby."

Isiah smiled gratefully and grasped Ruby's hand. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am. And what's her name?"

"Isabella. Izzy."

"Well, I can carry Izzy." Before Ruby could protest at moving the feverish Isabella, Isiah scooped his big arms underneath Isabella's small frame and lifted her like a child. He held her easily in his arms. "Doc was checking the rooms at the end of the floor. Let's see if anyone else made it." Isiah led Ruby through the hospital door, gingerly stepping around the bound dead on the floor and cradling Isabella's head to stop it from bouncing against the door frame.

There were two more dead in the corridor though they had been bound already. One was tied by a belt, another by a scarf. Both were wriggling on the floor, gnashing their teeth, but unable to escape. "When we find somewhere safe Doc wants to take one alive and investigate them," Isiah said quietly as they walked briskly down the corridor. "He's a skilled guy. Saved a lot of lives during the terrorist attack three years ago." Isiah shook his head. "If it's not one thing, it's another."

Ruby couldn't help but agree. It seemed Eastbourne couldn't catch a break what with Bobby Yates' attack and now this unprecedented outbreak.

"Doc!" Isiah raised his voice slightly at the sight of a man leaving the end room, shoulders slumped and face downcast. He glanced at the call and immediately his hawk-like eyes narrowed at the sight of Ruby and Isabella. Crinkles formed around those eyes as he smiled and Ruby was suddenly hit by a strange wave of nostalgia that made her think of things she'd rather not think about.

Doctor Barrett was smiling and it was such a true smile that Ruby thought about her father, a man who had smiled no matter what. When Ruby first dyed her hair he had smiled instead of scolded her. When she had come home covered in leaves from saving a cat from a tree, he had smiled. When she had trouble working out her feelings for other women, he was there with a soft smile with crinkles at the edges of his eyes, just like the doctor. It didn't matter if Ruby's dad didn't understand the subject matter, he would still offer his two cents and often his two cents were the most valuable thing in the world to Ruby. His smile had forged Ruby's own and never had Ruby seen a smile like her father's.

Except now this Doctor Barrett was smiling with such hope and relief that Ruby wondered where her parents were now? They would have been in their house in the suburbs of London no doubt, her dad probably watching TV at this point and her mum boiling the vegetables for dinner. Where were they now? Had they locked themselves in the house, realising the threat? Or had they… they…

"I know, I know, this is all such a shock," Doctor Barrett was suddenly in front of her, placing both hands on her shoulders, looking her directly in the eye with those hawk eyes. He was still smiling, filling Ruby with conflicting warmth. He couldn't possibly know what kind of grief had just hit Ruby yet just by that smile he was making her feel infinitely better, taking her mind off the things she couldn't afford to think about. "My name is Steven. Just breath and you'll get through the shock," He patted Ruby gently and turned to Isabella. "Quite a fever, oh dear."

"She hasn't been bitten, Doc."

"Good, good," Steven muttered, peeling back Isabella's eyelids with a thumb. He had a small silver torch in his hand, shining the bright light into Isabella's eye. "Mmm. Reacting to the light is always a good sign. Once we find a safe place, I will have a look at her. Name?"

"Isabella," Isiah said.

"Izzy," Ruby corrected, feeling the croak in her voice. She cleared her throat and tried speaking again. "And I'm Ruby."

"I'm glad to see some survivors. Our luck has been… slim at best."

"Are we the only others you found?"

"Indeed," Steven Barrett nodded but there was that smile again. "Two is better than none and I will take those numbers. I wonder if we ought to hole up at the hospital. The undead have thinned considerably."

"No," Ruby said firmly. "It would be suicide."

"Oh?"

"There are no supplies here," Ruby said matter-of-factly. "This kind of thing isn't going to go away in a day, is it? I know a place. The Collado Shelter, up on the hill. Have you heard of it?"

"Who hasn't?" Isiah said. "Ms. Collado provides so much for those orphans from the explosions. It's a little far-out though…"

"We can make it," Ruby said firmly. "I know Naomi Collado personally. That mansion has supplies, food, water, energy. If there is anyway to hole up it will be there. It will also be there where any survivors are found. That shelter is full of people and as long as the gates were shut then it still will be."

"I suppose it makes sense," Steven said. "I am glad to see the shock already wearing off, Ruby."

"I've… handled a lot of stress in my life," Ruby said, trying not to think of the exact kind of stress she had to deal with. That kind of thinking would threaten to boil over. "We can't afford to panic despite this situation we're in."

"Could not have said it better myself. We have searched the hospital to the best of our abilities and the two of you are the only survivors thus far. I would like to search residing buildings but I must be realistic," He placed the back of his hand on Isabella's forehead. "I have a patient I must tend to."

"We should take some meds before we go," Isiah suggested. "In all the movies that's what they always forget until later."

"This isn't a movie, Isiah," Steven said gently.

"May as well be one. The rules may not be the same but we should be prepared, while we're here," Isiah argued. "We've bound the stragglers. We won't be threatened."

"Medicine is a good idea," Ruby agreed. "This might not be the movies but it's best to be prepared. There may be people at the shelter who'll need it. If I know Naomi, she'll be doing all she can to help the people of Eastbourne."

* * *

The way back to the lobby had been nerve-wracking but ultimately uneventful. It was clear to Ruby that Steven and Isiah had systematically taken and tied down what little dead remained in the hospital. The rest of the dead must have filtered out for other areas of the town, looking for fresh pray. Ruby, Steven and Isiah could only stand near the reception desk, looking at what the undead had left behind for them. Bodies barely recognisable as humans lay torn apart across the floor, heads smashed like dropped coconuts. Isabella moaned in Isiah's arms, twisting and turning but the man was able to hold on to her with ease.

"Terrible," Steven had one hand on his face. "Just terrible."

"We should go," Ruby said gently, stepping over the bloody carcass of a nurse. "We don't know when—"

"…Help…"

Ruby froze at the weak voice, looking left and right for the origin.

"…It hurts…"

There was nothing to the left, just rows of blood-stained chairs. To the right was the reception desk with body of the receptionist, head caved in and guts spread across the desk. Straight ahead were the double doors of the lobby. Ruby finally turned around and looked at the body of the nurse, feeling something vile rise in her throat.

The nurse should not have been alive. Her stomach cavity had been emptied, organs eaten by the dead. One arm hung limp and broken, the other missing completely. Her head rested on one shoulder, impossibly bent. The skin was deathly pale and her eyes were flitting around wildly. The mouth was opening and closing, occasionally letting out a word.

"…Please…"

Steven was quick to kneel down next to the nurse but almost immediately recoiled, holding his mouth. His eyes bulged and he looked to Ruby as if asking her what to do. "…There's no organs…" Steven whispered through his fingers. "No lungs. No intestines. No heart. This is impossible."

Ruby kneeled down next to Steven, putting one hand on his shoulder. They both stared down at the suffering nurse. "It isn't just an infection," Ruby said slowly. "It can't be. It has to be something… more. For her to be alive like this… Could it be Death?"

"What?" Steven asked weakly, confused at Ruby's words.

"It's nothing," Ruby murmured, thinking hard. The last she had seen Death he had been searching for Paige Calloway of all people, even though she had been thrown off a cliff. Yet how could Death cause something like this? The dead coming back to life and the living not dying? But why? Ruby looked back around at the other corpses in the room and realised that the nurse was the _only _one with her head intact. Was that important? It must be.

"We have to help her," Isiah said, clutching Isabella tighter in his arms.

"How?" Steven asked, that hopeful smile upon seeing Ruby all but gone in the face of this grim impossibility.

"I know how," Ruby said quietly. "It's the head." She looked up to Isiah. "Just like the movies, I bet. Destroy the brain… The problem is that she isn't undead. Not like the ones outside…" This nurse was alive in some sense. She was speaking words, but did the nurse know she was speaking words?

"We can't kill her," Isiah shook his head.

"We can't keep her like this, though," Steven moaned. "Her organs are _gone_, Isiah. Even if I could cure the infection this… this is… Look at her, she is in so much pain."

The pain _was _etched in the face of the nurse, in those eyes that flitted around so wildly. Leaving her behind would be wrong but killing her would be wrong, surely. Yet they couldn't cure what wasn't there. She wasn't injured, she was beyond that… She _should_'_ve _been dead. Ruby braced her shoulders and stood straight, closing her eyes. It was happening again. Choices that shouldn't have to be made, responsibility falling on her shoulders. She just couldn't leave it well enough alone. Just like with Sabrina in London. Like Tanzi here in Eastbourne. Making her mind up, Ruby opened her eyes and gestured to the doctor. "Help me, Steven." She crouched and hooked her arms around the nurse's armpits. The poor woman was so impossibly light.

"What are you-?"

"We'll come back later," Ruby said firmly, feeling that responsibility rising up within her. "We will learn more about what is happening. Learn more about this outbreak. I can contact people who will know more." Though whether Lisa Valentine's number would work anymore Ruby doubted. There must be another way to contact the DSI. "For now, we'll put her somewhere safe, away from the dead. We'll come back. We might be able to save her. If the mind isn't gone maybe… just maybe…"

Steven nodded wordlessly and helped Ruby pick up the nurse's broken body. She didn't register the movement, moaning occasional words. They manoeuvred behind the reception desk and into a storage cupboard, placing the nurse against the wall. Ruby looked down at the pitiful form and shook her head, pulling off the coat she had worn for her visit to Isabella and placed it over the nurse, covering the cavity where her organs should have been. Ruby knelt down in front of her and reached for her face, "We'll be back," Ruby said firmly, placing her fingers on the bare skin of the nurse's cheek.

* * *

"_Come on, Peter, you never say yes." _

_ "That's cause I can't be drunk and on duty." _

_ "It'll only be a few drinks," Heather leaned on her elbows and smiled at Peter, the handsome doctor that all the nurses swooned over. Yet _she _was the one Peter chose to talk to. "You won't get drunk, I promise." _

_ "How about a coffee?" _

_ "That's less exciting." _

_ "Is that a no?" _

_ Heather smiled widely. "Coffee will do." _

_ "Well then, it's a—what's that?" Peter turned to look towards the double doors of the lobby. "It looks like… a crowd?"_

* * *

Ruby drew back with a gasp, almost knocking Steven over with her violent reaction. Ruby backed against the wall, breathing hard, hands shaking. She had just _seen _the nurse's memory's, almost _became_ her for just a moment. It was something that Ruby was so familiar with because of what had happened between her and Tanzi days before.

Tanzi Sakamoto had the Ability to peer into people's memories, to absorb information and skills, and use them for her own gain. After the explosions in Eastbourne she had gone off to train with Jason Ryan, the only other survivor of the Epsilon incident who had turned DSI. The next time Ruby had seen her was after Death paid his visit to the Purple Pike. They had taken Leslie Carlson, somebody on this new list, but Tanzi and Rose had shared something that night. Tanzi had used her powers to share her memories with Ruby, opening up a path for Ruby to do the same. The two of them had become one in a way that not even lovers could become, knowing each other inside and out. Ruby and Tanzi weren't in love with each other, they had found that out early, but they were close friends and had become as close as they possibly could with this melding of minds.

Had that somehow transferred Tanzi's Ability to Ruby? What else could that had been? Ruby had seen the memories of that nurse, Heather, just before the outbreak hit the hospital. Flirting one minute, in this state the next… Ruby started breathing heavily, knocking supplies from the shelving as she tried to move away.

All Ruby had ever wanted to be was normal. She loved concerts and musicians, loved helping people. She never had a goal in life, only some burgeoning feelings on possibly being a teacher or to open her own pub one day. Childish dreams for a child. Then Ruby had met Sabrina Holland and that was the first thing that changed her, though this was a change for the better. They lived together, became friends, and at some point grew to love each other. Ruby had never felt such love for someone but was never able to act on her feelings before Sabrina had her vision and the events of Epsilon happened.

This love made her smile.

Ruby had discovered just truly what kind of person Sabrina was, a selfish murderer. Yet somehow Ruby still loved her, and that filled her with such a horrible sense of guilt. Sabrina had then decided that she wasn't going to kill Ruby to get off the List after all, and instead made Ruby kill Sabrina with her own hand. It may not have been intentional on Ruby's part yet still it had happened. Ruby had taken a life and all throughout the recovery of her spine from falling, all throughout reaching Eastbourne and finding a new place to live, all Ruby could think was how something in her had fundamentally changed.

Despite this, she smiled.

Ruby then got a job in the Purple Pike and met Tanzi Sakamoto and could feel a new closeness growing. Yet it wasn't the same as it was with Sabrina. Ruby didn't love Tanzi in the same way. They had tried and realised that it wasn't for either of them, a night best kept in their memories. They became flatmates, working in the same job, and grew close as friends. Ruby's world crumbled when Tanzi had her vision and the List thrust its horrible head into Ruby's life again.

And yet she smiled.

Ruby had failed to save everyone, despite her promises. That feeling of failure drove her to make decisions that were the wrong ones, and her fury at being given the Nectar of the Gods by Zach had made her so violent that Ruby was horrified at what she would have done had Nathan Furrow not stopped her. Yet now she had the Nectar in her veins, effectively making her immortal. Any injury would heal without a trace. Yet this separated her further from humanity and Ruby could feel her hopes and dreams slipping away. Tanzi had left to go on her training and Ruby was alone once more. Tanzi had told her that no matter what happened, Ruby should smile.

So she did and Ruby smiled.

Finally, Ruby had found a new life for herself. She had saved Leslie Carlson's life after the Eastbourne explosions and formed a bond with him, like a mother to a son. She became manager of the Purple Pike. It made her happy, truly happy, and that was all thrown away when Death visited and killed those in the Purple Pike as if their lives meant nothing. Ruby herself faced Death, confronted him with the names of the people who had died, yet he had just claimed it wasn't fault. Ruby had broken, revealing the last known location of Paige Calloway in her anger, and Death had left her alive, with this so-called _gift _of bringing Isabella back from his gates.

How could she smile now?

At some point, Ruby realised that she was _trying _to smile, that she was putting on a farce. She was being optimistic for others' sake, she was being positive for others' sake, she was putting on a smile for others' sake. No longer did she smile for herself, because she wasn't the person she used to be. Epsilon and Eastbourne had changed her. And now… Now Ruby had something else running through her veins, not just the Nectar of the Gods. Now she had this Ability of Tanzi's, to look into the memories of others, and she couldn't be further away from the Ruby watching rock concerts on TV.

"…Ruby?" Ruby's gaze focused on the extremely concerned face of Steven Barrett, the stranger she had barely met five minutes ago. She could feel dampness on her cheeks and absently wiped away the tears that had started flowing. "Perhaps the shock hadn't worn off quite as much as I thought it did."

Ruby squared her shoulders and clenched her fists. "I am fine." She stretched her lips into that false imitation of a smile. To anyone else, it would look like a genuine smile. Ruby knew it was fake, could feel it in her bones. "Really, I'm fine, Doc. Sorry for worrying you." She let her hands relax and unclenched them, allowing the blood to flow again. "We'll come back for Hea—for the nurse. We have to focus on getting Isabella somewhere safe first."


	6. Betrayed

**Paige Calloway**

**Betrayed**

_The Tomb of Shishak Kaka, Sahara Desert_

_What have I done? _

That was the question that rolled around Paige's mind as she sat in the corner of the chamber, knees pulled up tight to her chin. She felt like a girl, a child, back in the Greenwood Orphanage being punished for the things she hadn't intended to do. She had managed to be so strong, working with Willow and Ash to find this tomb, to find the knife, to confront and defeat Death. Yet this wasn't what Willow had promised her. She had promised a lack of death, of immortality for this generation of humanity. Not the resurrection of those that had already died. Not the monsters that they had become.

The body was still there, laying in the middle of the room like an omen hanging above them all. Her limbs had been straightened and a robe had been placed over her face but the body of Tanzi Sakamoto could have been standing and staring at Paige for all the guilt that hammered into Paige's chest. She had been prepared for Tanzi's death. Had accepted it. Accepted that guilt. Willow had at least told the truth in that vision, of Tanzi confronting Death and opening the chance to defeat him. It was a necessary sacrifice.

Tanzi Sakamoto was to be the _last _death.

Not the _first _of the dead to rise.

* * *

"…_No remorse… No mercy…" Death closed his eyes, the pain lashing up and done his face. "You are more like your mother than I ever wanted… I failed to guide you the way I ought to have." He opened his eyes again and reached up to Paige, placing his smooth palm on her cheek. "My daughter… My poor, poor daughter… You have doomed the world to Apocalypse…" _

_ Paige remained firm as she stared into her father's eyes, firm and resolute. She felt the pressure ease off her cheek and glanced at Death's hand to see that it was turning into an ash-like substance, floating down in flakes to the floor of the Pyramid. "…You _will _bring me back…" Paige released the handle of the knife, allowing Death to stumble backwards, the hilt protruding from his heart. "…As Shishak did before you… The world you've sown… is a world of such disaster and pain… that you will _beg _me to come back…" His entire arm had dispersed, and the ashy flakes were now falling from his shoulder. "My dear daughter… Do not weep… For the fault lies not in you… but the corruption your mother has planted within…" _

_ With those last words hanging in the air, Death faded away into those ashy flakes, becoming nothing but a small heap at Paige's feet, the knife laying on top of it with a faint glow to its blade. Paige ran her hand across her face to rid it of the wetness and crouched down, picking the blade up and holding in her palm. She could feel the power residing within in, its aura so strong that Paige just wanted to throw it at the wall and never think of it again. Nevertheless, she tucked it in her belt and stood up, taking a deep breath. _

_ "_Ist es fertig_? Is it done?" Paige turned to face the hulking figure of Axel Daunhauer and nodded, not willing herself to talk. His face was full of sympathy and placed a large hand on her shoulder. "You did the right thing, I have no doubt." _

_ Paige didn't respond, instead stalking over to the fallen form on the floor, a hole in the back of his head. Bobby Yates was just like her and wouldn't truly die, not from something as trivial as a hole to the head. She looked to the stranger who had fired the shot, a man clad in all black._

_ "Just a man finishing off his mission," the man answered the unasked question with a humorous smile, resting the rifle casually on his shoulder. "Though looks like you did the job for me. The name is Gunner." _

_ "He is an Agent of Talon," Zeina Morcos said, relief from the defeat of Death clear on her face. "An organization on the less legal side of things." _

_ "A job is a job," Gunner said. "Now then, with that all squared up, I need to report back to—_

_ "No! No, no, no, you cannot go," Willow Orwell spoke up, getting up close to the agent. Her twin brother, Ash, stood by her side as always. _

_ "Excuse me?" Gunner asked, bemused. _

_ "You are intrinsically tied to the fate of Paige. You must come with us." _

_ "I ain't tied to no fate, girl."_

_ "We're all tied to fate, you, me, Paige, all of us! It is not a matter of arguing and bravado, it is a matter of that is how it is!" Willow seemed more firm than she usually would have, her face set in stone. She turned on her heel to Paige. "We must leave though, as soon as we can." _

_ "Is there such a hurry?" Paige asked, confused. "We won. We did it. We beat Death." _

_ "What is _wrong _with you?" The angry voice came from the other side of the chamber and Paige turned to see Jade Skysong kneeling next to the body of Tanzi Sakamoto. Her face was etched with anger. Holly knelt on the other side of her, watching Jade with wariness. "Tanzi is dead! Doesn't that faze you?!"_

_ "Jade…" Paige crossed her arms slowly. "I know you might not understand, but this was necessary." Paige realised as soon as she had said this that it was certainly the wrong thing to say._

_ "Necessary?" Jade stood, fists balled up tightly. "Necessary!? What the hell have you become, Paige? 'Cause you're right, I don't understand, I don't understand shit all! We were picked up, sent here, all without an explanation! Your little fortune teller over there refuses to tell us anything and before we know it fuckin' Death walks through the door!" Jade stormed over to Paige, jabbing a sharp finger into her chest. "Well now's the time. You won. Well done. Now explain. Explain why the hell it was necessary for Tanzi to die! She was a goddamn survivor! Just like me! I want to know right now why!" _

_ "There is not time to explain," Willow insisted, glancing over in Tanzi's direction. "We must go, must go." _

_ "Shut it!" Jade growled. _

_ "Do not worry, your friends will be safe, you will reunite with them, this I've seen-" _

_ "As if I trust your visions," Jade snapped. "Don't think I don't know how you didn't care which of us took the Nectar. As long as we fit the puzzle it doesn't matter what pieces we are." _

_ "Guys…" Holly's voice was barely recognised as Jade grew more animated. _

_ "So explain. Explain it to us, all of us, right now. And you know what? You can start with why the hell you're even alive! You plunged off a cliff, you should be dead, so why are you here? Why is she here?" Jade pointed down to the faintly stirring Marianne, who was already getting a lovely bruise from where Jade had whacked her unconscious. "And what even is Bobby fuckin' Yates doing here!?"_

_ "Guys!" Holly's voice was sharper and managed to draw their attention. "She's moving, she's alive." _

_ Paige looked at Holly and couldn't believe it. She had cradled Tanzi's head on her lap and the girl's pale hand was moving, slowly reaching up. Happiness blossomed in her chest, making her almost dizzy with giddiness. Tanzi was alive? She couldn't have felt more elated and made to step towards her when Willow's sharp scream broke the happiness. "No! Move, move now!" _

_ "Huh?" _

_ There was a sudden ear-piercing screech as Tanzi Sakamoto opened her mouth and bellowed. Holly recoiled backwards in shock, clutching at her ears. As quick as a tiger, Tanzi got to all fours, her face twisted and inhuman. Her eyes were pale, saliva slipped down her chin. Paige knew that something was horribly wrong just as Tanzi pounced towards Holly, mouth opened wide. _

_ Holly, to her credit, was in control enough to activate her Ability, allowing Tanzi to slide right through her as if she were air and land on the other side. Tanzi was making animalistic noises as she twisted and suddenly charged to the next nearest person, that being Jade. _

_ Tanzi tackled into her with force, knocking the two of them to the floor. There was a flash of red as Tanzi tore into Jade's arm with her teeth, taking a great chunk of flesh. Jade yelled out in pain and kicked out, knocking Tanzi off her. Tanzi rolled once before changing attention again, this time staring at Paige with those soulless eyes of hers. Paige couldn't react as Tanzi charged, sprinting full speed towards her. _

_ "_Genug!_" Axel roared, stepping forward and hooking his arm around Tanzi's neck, catching her in a chokehold. She thrashed and thrashed, the hold apparently taking no effect. "What is… wrong with her!" Axel growled, using his free arm to catch hold of one of her flailing arms. "Help me… Keep her… down…" Jade and Holly were both there, Holly catching hold of the other arm and Jade pushing down on the legs to stop her kicking. Paige could only watch as Tanzi's jaw opened and closed, gnashing fruitlessly in the directions of the humans; because it was clear that Tanzi wasn't human anymore. _

_ "Willow…" Paige breathed, staring at Tanzi. "What is this?" _

_ "Paige—"_

_ "WHAT IS THIS?!" Paige spun on her heel to confront Willow, who was trembling in fear. Ash stepped forward, putting one hand protectively in front of his sister. "You told me that it was done! That Tanzi would be the last! What is happening?" _

_ "I-I may have—" _

_ "Speak!" _

_ "I-I-" Willow shook harder like a leaf in the wind, the shakes running up her legs and down her arms. _

_ "Paige. Please calm down." _

_ "Shut your mouth before I shut it for you. I'm speaking to your sister. Willow." _

_ Paige waited as the others still struggled with Tanzi. Willow took a few quick breaths before steadying herself. "I-I-I may have… left out a few d-details. We ended it!" Willow quickly insisted. "Death is gone, that is what we wanted! It's just, well, with Death gone there is no-one to ensure the souls are kept below so their coming back into the… the bodies. Just… Just when someone is already dead, the soul can't connect with the body and come back as… well, these…" _

_ "You told me that we would end death!" _

_ "And we did!" Willow tried smiling though it failed spectacularly. "We can't die now. At least… At least our bodies can't die. You can be stabbed, burnt, thrown off a bridge and you'll still be alive. It's just… well, the brain, as long as the brain is still active you'll be fine." _

_ "How many?" _

_ "H-How many what?" _

_ "How many like Tanzi? These… souls… coming back." _

_ "How many bodies are there?" _

_ Paige saw a flash of red and had to force her hand to stay still. "Can we help them. Bring them back." _

_ "O-Once the soul is severed from the body…" Willow shook her head. "No. No possible way. None of my threads move towards recovery. Once they're like that… it's permanent. And…" Willow faltered. _

_ "What?" _

_ "They've been… given… traits… by the Horsemen…" _

_ "The… Horsemen…" _

_ "Famine gave them a lust for flesh. War gave them an intent on harming humans. Pestilence gave them the infection to spread." _

_ Questions ran through Paige's head and she stumbled backwards. She had felt so in control and now it was veering wildly off a cliff. "I don't… Why did you not tell me? Why did…" Paige stopped, taking another step backwards. "You used me." Paige looked to Ash's grim face. "You _both _used me." _

"_Paige, let us explain—" Ash tried. _

_ "On top of that cliff! When you asked me to sacrifice myself! To get hit by that car! The things you told me, were they true? Coming here to get Shishak's dagger, to use it to defeat Death, for me having to be the one to wield it. Was that true? Or did you need a puppet and I fitted the bill?"_

_ "We needed you Paige, we needed you, have no doubt, no doubt!" Willow insisted. "My father saw the Apocalypse! In order to end the Apocalypse, we have to start the Apocalypse! To end the threat, start the threat! Everything I do leads towards that!"_

_ "Why didn't you tell me! From the very beginning! To prepare me!" _

_ "That thread led to failure!" Willow insisted, tears rolling down her cheeks now. "I looked and I tried but every time I told you what happened, you would hesitate and Death wouldn't have been defeated! You would never have gone through it if I had told you! You cannot possibly understand what it is like, to follow the threads to the end! I had to keep it quiet, I had to!" _

_ "What can we do to help Tanzi." _

_ "I told you… She's gone. We cannot help her. She is one of them now." _

_ "So we leave her like that?" Paige asked, incredulously. _

_ "To destroy them… We have to ensure the brain is destroyed… the brain is the link between soul and body. Without a brain the soul cannot reside within the body." _

_ "Let me get this straight… Any corpse that is still in tact with a brain… will get brought back? Like this?" _

_ "It's how the Apocalypse starts. Please, Paige, please, I can explain in detail, I can explain to you all now that the deed is done. We must start moving, please, we must start moving first!" _

_ Paige turned her back on Willow, not willing to continue the conversation further. She felt such a fury in her chest that the Orwell siblings had betrayed her. She had the notion that she had been a chosen one. Someone important to the fate of the world, important to saving it. It's what Willow had told her on that cliff. Turns out all she was important, but not to saving it. Just destroying it. Paige walked towards Tanzi where the others were still struggling with her. _

_ "I'm so sorry," Paige murmured, looking at the monster Tanzi had become. "Thank you, Tanzi." _

_ "What should we do?" Axel asked. _

_ "We are not killing her!" Jade insisted, the wound in her arm already healed due to the Nectar of the Gods in her blood. _

_ "I think it is rather simple," the agent of Talon, Gunner, spoke up, casually walking up and putting the barrel of his rifle to Tanzi's temple. "If I hear correctly, they're monsters—" _

_ "NO!" _

_ The close-range shot blew the side of Tanzi's face into pieces of red and white, scattering the contents across the floor and splashing Axel and Holly with a coating of the crimson blood. Tanzi immediately stopped struggling, hanging limp in Axel's arms. _

_ Jade was already on Gunner, tackling him to the floor. The agent hadn't expected her wild onslaught and found the rifle stolen out of his hands and pointed at his chest. He raised his hands, smiling. "Come on, girl. I just did what had to be done. Better me than any of you. You guys were friends, right? I'm just a stranger. Used to this kind of thing. Solves a lot more problems that it causes, right?" _

_ "You fucker… We didn't know what we could have done! There could have been a cure of some kind!"_

_ "That's the thing, Jade Skysong, there isn't a cure, no cure, none." Willow spoke up again. "That is the fate of the dead." _

_ "I've had it with your fate!" Jade spun around with the rifle and pointed it at Willow. Immediately Ash stood in front of his sister again. "I'll shoot you both down, just watch me!" _

_ "Just watch the recoil," Gunner provided with that awful smile from his position on he ground. "And aim for the chest. You'll miss if you go for the head. I doubt you've much experience in the matter."_

_ "I'd suggest you be very quiet," Axel said with such threatening overtones that Gunner immediately shut up. Axel had gently placed Tanzi on the ground, placing his robe over her ruined face. _

_ "Do not worry, brother," Willow said calmly, gently pushing Ash out of the way. "No thread leads to Jade Skysong firing that rifle."_

_ "You want to bet!" _

_ Willow just walked up and placed her forehead against the barrel of the rifle. "If you want to shoot, shoot. I sometimes think this gift of mine is a curse. To see the future, every future, takes its toll, it does. It took its toll on my father and he refused to leave the lighthouse. I am not like him, I am not. I act on the threads and I follow where they lead. All I want is to save humanity from the Apocalypse. So shoot me, and watch humanity fail. I am the catalyst, I am the leader, I am the new oracle!" _

_ "Hahaha… Hahahaha…." The laugh echoed in the chamber and all attention was brought to the form of Bobby Yates, who was slowly picking himself up off the floor. "You did it, sis. You killed him. You killed dear old dad. Oh man…" Bobby sat back on his haunches and laughed freely, finally wiping his eyes and grinning. "Here I thought I'd be the one to cause the Apocalypse, I'm actually pissed that you took that from me." He started laughing again, falling to his back, letting his words wash over Paige. _

_ Paige looked from Bobby to Tanzi's corpse on the floor, to Willow and Ash, the Orwell siblings. She realised she was done. She was done listening to others. She was done following these goddamn threads that led to nothing more than destruction and death. What a fool she had been. The Orwell's were no different that the whispers on the wind, no different than Death. All trying to use her. No more. It was time to take action and make the choices based on what she wanted, not what Willow wanted. She would fix her mistakes, of that she was sure. _

_ First, she would need solid answers, from both Bobby Yates and Willow Orwell._

* * *

_**A/N:- Paige Calloway is credited to Angie2282 and Tanzi Sakamoto to SevenFlags. **_


	7. Of Demons and Horsemen

**Paige Calloway**

**Of Demons and Horsemen**

_The Tomb of Shishak Kaka, Sahara Desert_

The fault was hers. Paige was aware of this and shouldered it with a firmness in her heart. Maybe it made more sense to blame Death, who was nothing but ash now; Willow, who had tricked Paige with filtered visions and words; Bobby, whose arrogance and devotion to their father had guided him to the tomb. No, these three deserved some of the blame but they did not deserve the whole. That was Paige's burden to shoulder. It was she who had followed Willow's unwise words, it was she who had brought those unable to be killed by Death's touch here, it was she who had plunged the dagger into Death's heart and brought about this Apocalypse.

She had spent too much time blaming herself. There was too much to do. If the whole world had become like poor Tanzi… Paige took a moment to straighten her thoughts and looked out over the ragtag group that occupied the tomb of Shishak Kaka, the man who had made the same mistake as her so long ago. The group had divided itself into three, like the cliques at Sussex Downs College. God, that life seemed so long ago.

First there were the Orwell twins. Willow and Ash, identical in all but gender and hair-length. Ash's hair was cut short with a long fringe while Willow's cascaded down her shoulders in pretty curls. Both had pale skin, sharp noses, and a smaller stature about them. Willow was sat cross-legged on the floor, her gaze switching from the dusty ground of the tomb to Paige herself. Paige didn't falter from Willow's gaze and stared at her until the girl looked away again, abashed. Ash had his hand on his sister's shoulder, his face grim. At least he, unlike his sister, seemed not to have enjoyed deceiving Paige.

They had travelled together from Eastbourne to Egypt, after all, and in that time they had grown to know each other. Their father was Archibald Orwell, a self-proclaimed Oracle that lived in and never left the Belle Tout Lighthouse. Ash didn't take after his father like Willow had, instead having the Ability to control the weather. He had once explained that he couldn't create completely new weather patterns, but rather control and either enhance or weaken oncoming weather. He could speed up a storm or slow down a tornado. He was the reason that the winds had been so strong to help them across the English Channel. Paige rather liked Ash. He was the quiet type but once he started speaking about the things he enjoyed then she could sense a real passion there. He was sensible and loyal to his sister.

Willow… Despite being the identical twin of Ash, she couldn't have been more different. She had inherited the power to see the threads of the future, something Paige still had trouble wrapping her head around. Where this was an Ability akin to the other kinds, or something else entirely, Paige didn't know. All she knew was that Willow could see all possible threads that an action could take. This had taken a toll on Willow's psyche and the girl could switch between calm and collected to fractured and manic in but a second. Occasionally she would have fits akin to epilepsy that Ash would have to hold her down to stop her from thrashing. Paige had always thought the girl quirky and strange, but never had she thought that she would have used Paige like a tool. Even just thinking this grew the fury in Paige's chest and she turned to the next group to separate themselves.

The CEO of the African Branch of the DSI, Zeina Morcos stood elegantly in her robes that seemed hand-crafted for her body. Perhaps they were, she would certainly have the connections for that kind of thing. Zeina was a mystery to Paige, another thing that Willow had kept from her. She had turned up with the rest of the survivors and hadn't been affected by Death's presence, which would kill any normal human. So Zeina must have had an Ability but unlike the others she hadn't displayed such a thing yet. However, Paige was looking forward to the chance to talk to her. A member of the DSI, and such a high-ranking one at that, would be invaluable on her decisions going forward.

Standing next to Zeina was the other mystery, the man who called himself Gunner, the Agent of Talon. His rifle had been taken away from him but that didn't seem to faze him one bit. He was standing with a cocky air to him, tapping his foot as if he was impatient but had yet to confront Paige. This agent had helped them certainly, but Paige didn't like the air of the man. Cocky men proved trouble, in her experience. He looked as if he had stepped out of a spy movie with the padded black armour he wore and the earpiece extending over his ear and disappearing into his collar.

At the feet of these two enigmas were the two prisoners, Bobby Yates and Marianne. Not so long ago, all Paige knew about them were that they were fellow students at Sussex Downs. Now was a completely different story. Marianne was Bobby's stooge through-and-through, with the Ability to seemingly control and manipulate people like a hypnotist from a stage show. Her hands had been covered with a black cloth and zip-tied courtesy of Gunner. There was a bruise rising up the side of her face, paler even than that of the Orwell twins. Bobby was another story, sat cross-legged with his arms tied behind his back and a black cloth stuffed into his mouth to keep him from talking. Nobody talked shit like Bobby Yates did.

Bobby wasn't just the class bully anymore. He was Paige's sibling, a son of Death. He was as arrogant as he was seemingly ignorant of everything that had happened. Back in Limbo when Paige has first found out about her extraordinary ability to cheat death he had said that the voice of the wind that Paige had grew up with _was _Death. Yet that didn't match at all with the Death that walked into this tomb. Bobby was cocky and wanted to laud his knowledge over Paige back then, but the idiot didn't have an iota of what he was talking about. Even gagged, Paige could see that obnoxious laughter in his eyes and turned to look at the final three members of the group.

Axel Daunhauer was another member of the DSI, a combat operative with the Ability to transform into a metal colossus able to crush human bones with ease. With what Paige had seen so far, the man had seemed friendly and approachable, a far cry from his large stature. Yet she had watched him fight fiercely and knew he was not a man to be trifled with. Holly was another kind of soldier, Willow had mentioned formerly of the DSI, though whether Paige could trust even that she wasn't certain. She had the Ability to turn intangible and allow people and objects to pass through her as if she weren't even there.

Finally, there was Jade Skysong, the only member of the group to have the Nectar of the Gods running through her veins, enabling her a long life and the gift of being able to heal from any injury that would be fatal to any normal human. Paige first knew her from college though they ran in different circles. Jade the rock star, lead singer for the Miracle Skyhawks, and Paige the outcast, talking to the voice in the wind. They had both gotten involved in the List, though Paige had been a lot more receptive than Jade had been to Ruby and Tanzi's efforts. She seemed a completely different person from the girl Paige had known. Strong but still as loudmouthed as she always was. There was a maturity about her, however. Paige respected that. If anyone deserved answers more than Paige, it was Jade. She had left her friends, her band, and come here at a moment's notice. It would only be fair.

"It's time to talk," Paige spoke, her voice a shock to the silence of the tomb. She stood up, stretching her limbs, allowing any lingering doubt to disappear to the back of her mind. There was no more room for doubt, only for constant movement forward. "Gather round. Bring those two." She nodded towards Marianne and Bobby. "They might have answers we can use."

"So do you," Jade said, hands on her hips, immediately coming close to Paige. The rest drew closer as well, even Willow, though she did so hesitantly.

"I do," Paige nodded. "And I will start. As you saw, I asked Willow to bring those of you here to help confront Death because of your Abilities and, for you, Jade, because of the Nectar that runs through your veins. These traits prevented Death's presence and touch to harm you. I was told you were the ones I needed to get hold of, hence why I didn't find any other Ability users close to home. I appreciate what you have done, more than you know, in abandoning what you were doing on a such a fool's errand."

"We didn't abandon anything," Jade said. "We're going back."

"Of course," Paige nodded.

"Miss Calloway…" Zeina said uncertainly. "I think you made a mistake when it came to me. I don't have an Ability. I don't have any special Nectar."

"I think you do, Zeina," Paige said with a small smile. "You might not know it but you do."

Zeina shook her head. "Abilities manifest at a younger age. I would have—"

"Makes sense," Gunner interjected. "I've been watching you ever since I blew the brains out of him in the office. He killed so many others around you, but left you be. Brought you along like a little pet. I reckon he couldn't kill you, so instead he'd make use of you. All that DSI knowledge and all that."

Zeina grew quiet and Paige took this as her cue to continue. "I want to explain what I know and why I brought you here, in the grand scheme of things. A few years ago I was part of a List—"

"Fuckin' Lists…" Jade murmured.

"And I was given a choice after I met Willow Orwell," Paige motioned to her without looking at her. "She explained to me about a few things. She told me specifically that if I allowed myself to be knocked off the cliff then it would ensure humanity's survival in an upcoming Apocalypse. She mentioned to me Demons and of the Four Horsemen, but never elaborated. In my naivety, I assumed that meant it wasn't particularly important. I didn't realise that the Apocalypse would mean those… things that Tanzi had become. I brought this infection upon the world and I accept this. I don't know the damage but I am certain we will find out.

"I was to be hit by the car on that cliff so it could kill me and take me off the List, allowing Ruby the time she needed to get the Nectar to the hospital. It worked. I fell off that cliff and I died." Paige held up her arms. "For a moment, at least. I ended up in… well, what I can only call Limbo, a place between life and death. I met Bobby there and learnt he had the same capabilities as me. We could die and regenerate, coming back to life. It was my first time. Bobby had done it time and time again.

"Willow had explained to me our mission when I awoke. We were to chase the trail of Shishak Kaka and find his tomb and by proxy his knife. We were to wait until Death's resurrection, lure him here, and kill him. Here's the thing. I was given this task because I was one of two children of Death's." Paige stopped, letting this sink in. Everyone seemed almost dumbfounded at this revelation. "Yes. I am a child of Death. That is the reason behind my inability to be killed."

"So your sibling is…" Zeina started.

"Fuckin' Bobby Yates!?" Jade's eyes widened. "The two of you are brother and sister? Hell, I mean, that even makes sense. You're both insane. He was a nutjob and you talked to the wind."

"Used to. Here's where I am a little confused and where I would like Bobby to fill in the gaps, if he is able." Paige crouched down in front of Bobby. "I am going to ungag you, Bobby. But I want you to speak when you're spoken to. Can you do that? If you do not, I'll allow Gunner here to let you visit Limbo again."

Bobby took a moment before nodding, that smile never leaving his eyes.

"Good." Paige straightened up again first and looked at the faces of the group. "When I was a little girl, I was left at the Greenwood Orphanage. I don't know how I ended up there but considering I was Death's child… Well, it's something I don't understand. Nevertheless I started hearing this voice in my head that always came from the sky, from the direction of the sea. This voice became my only friend and helped me through the hard times. It was like a parent, offering its advice about even the most mundane of things. If I had a problem with boys in class, I could talk to the voice in the sky. If I had trouble with questions, it would help me. It was no different than speaking to a member of the family, only if that member of the family had no body. In a way, I loved that voice in the sky. Ever since my first death, I lost contact with her and never heard her again. When I met Bobby in Limbo, he told me that the voice in the sky was Death herself. _Herself_. We all well know that Death isn't female. So Bobby, I want you to explain, if you have even an inch of knowledge, what you know."

Paige reached down but froze when Willow put her hand on Paige's arm. "Paige, please, we must—"

"I will get to you. Willow, we are doing things my way. I don't care for your visions for the moment. I will use them when I need them. So shut up and let Bobby talk."

Willow drew back as if shocked, pulling herself closer to Ash like a scolded child. Perhaps Paige _had _been a little harsh but she didn't have time for Willow's games anymore. Instead she leant forward and pulled the damp makeshift gag from Bobby's mouth.

Bobby drew in a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh, before grinning that cocky grin of his. He looked Paige straight in the eye and shrugged. "Look, I'll admit it. I fucked up. Big time. You're not the only one who got duped. So what d'ya wanna know sis."

"Don't call me that."

"Sure thing, sis."

There was a faint click as Gunner suddenly placed a previously unseen pistol against the back of Bobby's head. The agent leaned in close. "You remember she gave me permission to blow your brains out? Again? Go ahead. Make my day. 'Cause if you can come back to life again and again, that just means I can shoot you again and again. I'm willing to bet you still feel pain, so do what the girl says."

"Jesus, tough crowd, got it." Bobby let out a laugh. "So, what d'ya wanna know, _Paige_."

"Everything. Start from the beginning."

"The beginning? Alright, if you're sure. My first memory was living in an empty dumpster in the city—"

"The boy's a fool," Axel muttered, shaking his head.

"Screw it, let's give you a couple of bullets and see if you wanna beat around the bush anymore."

"Gunner, stop." Paige said firmly. "Bobby. Stop pissing about."

"But I love pissing about."

"Start from our conversation in Limbo."

"Hang on," Holly spoke up. "How can we trust what he says? I know a liar when I see one and this man would be number one on the list."

"Aww, how sweet. Who are you, anyway? Can I get your number?"

"Sure, let me carve it into your ass."

"Ooh, naughty," Bobby lewdly raised his eyebrows.

"Bobby," Paige crouched down in front of him. "I know a lot better ways to keep you down than simply killing you. The thing is, we don't heal before the death. I could have Axel crush your spine. I could have Ash bury you in sand. I could let Holly here cut off your arms and legs. All the while we'll keep you alive. So stop talking a big game and start telling us what we want to know."

Bobby cracked his neck and shrugged again. "Alright. Christ. Holly, was it? I'm gonna tell you guys the truth because why the fuck wouldn't I? You seem to be misunderstanding something. You seem to think I was working for dear old dad. You couldn't be more wrong. You want me to start from Limbo, Paige? Here you are. Believe it if you want. Or don't. I couldn't give two fucks anymore, I've achieved what I wanted.

"I had the displeasure of waking up in the wrecked basement of the hospital. See, the reason I was in Limbo was because I blew myself to smithereens in Eastbourne. Oh man, the damage I did, it was glorious—"

"That was you?" Jade butted in, aghast. "You caused that damage? Those explosions? The fire in the hospital? You murdered hundreds you—"

"Old news Jade, get over yourself. Can I get back to my story?"

Paige could see Jade was ready to blow but thankfully she backed away, staring daggers at Bobby.

"Thanks. So I woke up in the wreckage of the basement and what do I see but a wall caved in. Photos and documents everywhere. So, I think to myself, hell, I'm stuck in here anyway, let's do some reading. As you may well know, the mortician of the hospital was one of those pesky Bludworths and this particular Bludworth had a knack of researching information about those Lists of yours. It was interesting. It was interesting because, like you Paige, I grew up with a voice in my head. Only I wasn't stupid enough to announce it to the world and get outcast from society. Nevertheless, this voice raised me as it did you. Problem was, I wasn't nearly so comfortable in my own skin and one day I thought, fuck it, I've had enough. Tell you what, leaping off the roof of the supermarket hurts like nothing else. It took me a while to die but when I did and I discovered I could move around in Limbo, oh man, it was a trip. I loved it! I loved that feeling! I became addicted to it, addicting to finding myself back in that place. No world around you, no one to judge you, no noise, no chatter, just nothing but you!

"The voice told me it was Death. Convinced me. Oh, her tones were so sweet, how could I not believe her? She told me of her plan, this big old grand plan of hers. This war. Hell, now I think on it, it's probably this Apocalypse you've dredged up. She told me I was her son and wanted my help. Who was I to disagree? I helped her when I could, did what I could. It was great fun. So I was reading up on these documents and wouldn't you know it, Paige, we're not the only ones who heard that voice. Hundreds of others. All related to that fuckin' List. Visionaries heard voices. Reading it I came to the conclusion that this woman in the wind, this Death, caused the List's. The research said so. It made sense. She never mentioned the Lists to me so I thought fuck it. Fuck her.

"I blocked her out and I went my own way. Went on a bit of a field trip with Marianne. Couldn't stay in Eastbourne, could I? I started doing more research, doing things my own way, ignoring her pesky voice in my head. Then I stumbled upon a report. Hundreds dead in a Cairo football stadium, all from apparent cardiac arrest. It piqued my interest. I had to investigate. So I did. I stumbled into dear old dad with this DSI lackey and got to conversation with him. Y'know what I learned? That _he _was Death. That fuckin' voice in the sky lied to me! _Lied _to me! She wasn't death. The thing was, dear daddy didn't cause the Lists. It was the voice in the sky. Here's the kicker, Paige. Did daddy mention mummy?"

Paige narrowed her eyes. "He… mentioned corruption with my mother."

"So connect those dots Paige. The voice _is _our mother! Better yet, the voice is the complete opposite of Death! The voice is Life! So you want to know why we're so particularly powerful, able to transcend life and death? Because we're their children. We are the only children of Life and Death. And guess what, it only gets oh so sweeter. The rest of the Ability users are also children of Life. Only, unlike us, not with Death. The Four Horsemen. You said Willow mentioned them. Well, Death was part of them, just like the old stories. The others, Famine, War, Pestilence. All Abilities stem from them. The reason we're so powerful is because we're the only children. The rest of them fucked like rabbits, producing offspring after offspring, filtering their powers through generations of bloodlines.

"Oh man, he told me all of this. He doted after me. He was such a loving dad. Told me all these secrets because I was family. Because I would never tell another soul. I nodded and confirmed this and played along but you know what, I knew I would spread the fucking word cause I hated him! I hated the fucker for trying to come back into my life after more than twenty years! I played him and I led him here, the pyramid of Shishak Kaka, where I knew the knife would be waiting! I hadn't expected you, but you did my job for me. You killed dad. So that's one down, Paige, only one to go! One more fucking parent! Life… Or better yet, and here's the big secret, here's the one dad entrusted me with thinking I would be a good little boy. He didn't get the memo. Bobby Yates is far from a good little boy. _Life_… It's one word for her. The other? Pandora. Little Death and his brothers opened that box and fucked the world ten ways to Sunday!"

Bobby struggled to his feet, red in the face with passion. "So c'mon Paige! We can work together! Fuck our parents, fuck 'em! They screwed us over. They screwed the world over. Let's find Pandora and give it to her just like we did Dad! Bobby Yates and Paige Calloway, there has never been a better combina—mmmph!" Paige stuffed the gag deep into Bobby's throat with enough force to push him back to the floor. "Mmmph! Mmph! Mmmmph!" She was certain there were profanities involved but she didn't care. Instead, she turned to Willow, asking one simple question.

"How much of this is true?"

Willow stared at Paige with wide eyes. "…All of it."

"All of it?"

"Y-Yes."

Paige took a deep breath. It made sense. It made so much sense. She always thought that the voice in the sky was like a parent to her and it turned out she was. Pandora… As in the Pandora of Greek myth? Presumably yes. Then Death and the Horseman, of Christianity. What kind of foul pairing was that, Death and Pandora. So if killing Death caused the rise of the dead, just like Tanzi, then it stood to ground that killing Pandora, killing Life, might reverse the effects. Either that or make it worse. Paige wasn't certain.

"There's… There's more, Paige, there's more…" Willow spoke quickly. "I-I'll tell the truth, the whole truth, I have to now. The threads have changed. If I don't tell you then we can't win. So I'll tell you, I'll tell you, please."

"Speak then."

Willow clutched Ash's arm for support and her brother gave her a gentle pat on the head. "Pandora and Death. The linchpins of the world. War, Famine, Pestilence. The three other horsemen of the Apocalypse. It was they who caused the dead to rise. It's happening now, all over the world. Cities are crumbling, falling, humanity is being destroyed. But the dead are the first front. The second… the second is so much worse. Demons. The origins of the Horsemen lie in the seven layers of Hell. There are seven High Demons for each layer of Hell, but each of these Demons were sealed on Earth after the war where Death betrayed his brothers, sealed them, and banished his estranged lover, Pandora. It is these demons that we must hunt, these demons we must slay, if we are to open the path to Pandora."

"Demons. Uh-huh. Hell? Sure. Why not? After everything, why not." Paige closed her eyes. How she wished for those sunny days where she would studying for a stupid exam. "So Willow. I want you to tell me the truth."

"I will. I have to. If I don't…"

"Yeah, yeah, the threads won't lead to victory. So will defeating Pandora solve the problem of the dead?"

"No."

"Of course not. It can't be that easy. So how. How do we cure the dead that have risen over the world?"

"You can't cure them, I told you!" Willow cried. She was shaking again, and had slipped down to the floor, hugging Ash's leg. "We can send them back though. All of them. All of the ones that shouldn't be on this Earth. We can send them back."

"How?"

"I-I-I—"

"How, Willow! Tell me!"

Willow clutched her head, tears drenching her cheeks like a river. "The son of Pandora, the daughter of Death, Robert Isaac Yates, Paige Theresa Calloway, the two of you, it lies with you two, it always did. One of you must wield the dagger as Shishak Kaka did before and plunge it into their own heart, using the blood of Death to bring Death back. To become that which they destroyed. To open the gates of Hell again and usher in the spirits, bringing them back to their resting place! It comes down to the two of you! One will die, the other lives. One will sacrifice themselves to become Death!"

Silence reigned over the room. To Paige, it was as if she were alone with Bobby and Willow, the rest of the survivors not even existing in their plane of reality anymore. Bobby's face had finally gone pale, slackened with shock. To see him shaken was certainly something and Paige could only think of what her expression was. All this effort to defeat Death just to have to sacrifice themselves to reverse the effects?

"…I'm not doing that. There will be another way," Paige said weakly, trying to gather her strength.

"…What?"

"Neither Bobby nor I will do such a thing. All that will do is repeat history. I will find another way. And you will help me, Willow. You will look through every thread of the future until you find the path that results in what we want. And while you look for that thread, I want you to direct us to our next goal. These seven High Demons. You said we should hunt them. So we will start with that. So tell me, Willow, where should we start?"

"Paige… I can't… I can't find those threads…"

"Why not? I changed the threads, did I not? I forced you to tell me the truth, else it would never have worked. Your own words. So I will change of the threads again if I have to. You will travel with me and you will find those threads, I don't care if you destroy your own mind doing it. So where should we go first, Willow? What path should we take for these… High Demons."

"…It doesn't matter how long you wait… that is the fate…that is the fate!"

"Where!"

"Fine! Fine, fine, fine, fine! You are a child, Paige Calloway, a child moreso than any other!" Willow screamed, as petulant as a child herself. "You do not listen, you do not listen, you do not listen! My father knew you would be like this, he knew it, he warned me, I didn't listen, he died because I didn't listen, because I didn't-I didn't, you want to know where we go? Fine, fine! The demons are sealed, each by the DSI, each hidden in secret, even from those in positions of power! Babadook! The Ripper! Tokoloshe! Voorhees! Emmanuel! The Family! Kraken! Seven Demons, Seven layers, all sealed and now all need to be hunted once more! You want to know where to go next?" Willow was practically lying on the floor now, shaking with exhaustion as Ash held her tightly. "…Crystal Lake… We go to Crystal Lake… But you are a foolish child… To think you can avoid the fate laid before you…"

* * *

**A/N:- This is a fun chapter for me, as it finally reveals the basis for the Apocalypse trilogy. Four Horsemen. Seven High Demons. Pandora. These are the three main objectives that the three stories will revolve around. **

**Thanks for reading, and see you next time! **


	8. A Little Bit of Normal

**Rose Milano**

**A Little Bit of Normal**

_Berlin, Germany_

Jamie put out a hand to stop the group, peering around the side of the low wall. After a moment she put up two fingers. Two targets. Rose glanced to the back of the group where Alisha and Sam had a quick quiet word. Sam had tried to hold Alisha back, but Alisha shrugged off her arm, moving quickly but quietly to Jamie at the front of the line. Jamie gave her a quick look, but Alisha's expression was set in stone. Jamie put down her left finger and Alisha nodding, holding the small penknife in front of her as if it were a sword.

The two of them disappeared around the corner and Rose found herself holding her breath. Every single time this happened, she found it hard to breath when Jamie or any of the survivors went outside of her view. Coming out into the overtaken city had been nothing like Rose had expected. They had been traveling from the hospital to the residence of Johann Schneider and the journey had been long and careful. Jamie had led the group in a seemingly random route, sometimes doubling back of themselves, avoiding all large groups of the dead that milled around like docile packs of zebra, ready at a moment's notice to turn into lions. The only time Jamie would let the group go forward is if the dead were two or less, enough for herself and either Alisha or Sam to join her to take them out.

Jamie and Sam had taken to the task with surprising professionalism. If either of them felt bad about what they were doing, felt nervous or scared, they never showed it. Rose felt like all of Jamie's training in the DSI was coming into use here. Sam's stoicism and good-to-go attitude still lingered in Rose's mind, the doubt on just who should be leader. Rose still felt like Jamie or Sam, maybe even Bethany, deserved the role, much less a one-legged woman like herself.

Her missing limb had been the main cause of doubt for Rose. In her naivety she hadn't expected the wound to hurt but throughout the whole journey it was pulsing as if it were on fire. If it hadn't been for Murphy constantly holding her up Rose would have fallen and refused to get back up blocks ago. Murphy's presence was an ever-present comfort, his murmurs of encouragement helping her move forward. The others had been deathly quiet throughout the whole morbid trip. Even Sticks, always quick with a word and a joke, was keeping his lips locked. Werner and Robert, both of whom had been predicted to run off at the first chance, had still stayed with the group. Safety in numbers, Rose supposed, and she was glad. Them running off would cause more issues than needed.

So Rose let herself get dragged along by Murphy under the pretence of leader, while really doing nothing at all other than a dead weight.

Alisha appeared back around the corner and beckoned the group on, moving back to her position at the back of the group with Sam. Alisha was pale, as she always was after a kill. Rose supposed Alisha was trying to get used to it and that was why she was trying so hard to help the group but she was young and Rose was worried for her mindset. Sam gave her a pat on the shoulder and the group moved forward in their line, joining back up with Jamie who had been checking the bodies of the dead. She had said you never knew what you might find and anyone could be carrying something useful.

Rose had started recognising where they were – not far away at all from where Johann lived. This was the road they had driven down when all she thought she had to worry about was a List. That List seemed so small now compared to what Berlin had become – an undead mausoleum. Before they knew it, the front of Johann's home came into view and with it the appearance of the Purple Chevy, the van owned by the Miracle Skyhawks, which was a major part of their plan to leave Berlin.

The Chevy was now their only vehicle. They had left the Brown Peugeot in the hospital car-park. There was no way they would get all of them in it and the nearby streets were too packed with the dead. In order to escape from the hospital safely Jamie had led them through a zigzag of tiny back alleys. The dead were definitely less out here where the only buildings were homes so Rose had high hopes they would be able to pile into the Chevy and drive out of Berlin onto the next stage of their plan… Get back to England, get to that Tor, find the Chalice. It seemed like such a long way away that to even think of the Chalice was testing fate too much.

The road in front of Johann's residence was thankfully clear and Jamie took two quick looks past the connecting streets but there was nothing that worried her. She even allowed herself a second to lean on the fence in front of Johann's house, taking in a deep breath. Rose was worried for her aunt. Jamie had been non-stop, leading them onwards, taking action when action had to be taken. She must have needed a rest but Rose knew that even if Jamie wanted to, her mind wouldn't let her body stop until everyone was safe. Jamie stretched momentarily before carefully opening the fence and stepping inside.

The group followed. Murphy led the hobbled Rose, followed by Leslie who was keeping his one good eye out on Robert and Werner. Sticks and Bethany came after (with Sticks giving a brief pat on the side of the van), finished by Sam and Alisha. Sam closed the gate behind them as quietly as she could and the group seemed to collapse all as one, allowing their muscles to relax. Sticks fell to the ground with a sigh, laying on his back. Bethany sat next to him. Even the usually timid Werner followed their lead, dropping to the ground and hugging his knees. The man seemed somewhat less flighty as he had before, though that was probably because shock was setting in. Robert sped over to the corner of the little garden and sat with his back to the wall, hugging himself tightly. Leslie followed him. Leslie was roughly the age of Robert and seemed to have a connection with the Russian boy. Or at least Robert wouldn't run away from Leslie.

Murphy helped Rose down to a sitting position and Rose let out a relieved sigh, stretching her leg out in front of her. It was amazing how much more pressure was put on the limb when the other was out of the picture.

"You alright?" Murphy asked, his voice as gentle as ever.

"Define alright?" Rose asked with a slight smile to her voice. It hurt to even make slightly sarcastic comments but if she didn't she felt like she would go mad.

"Well, you're better, at least. We'll take a bit of a rest." Murphy patted her shoulder and sat down next to her. Rose leaned on his shoulder and Murphy didn't protest as they watched Alisha, Sam, and Jamie move to the door. Jamie took a deep breath and raised her fist. They had briefly discussed the possibility of Johann not being home, or worse yet, being one of… them. Yet the moment Jamie's knuckles rapped on the door once, the door swung open, revealing a man behind it.

Johann Schneider seemed to have been misinformed of the state of the world judging by the nearly childlike grin on his face. His spectacles rested on his nose and a book was held under his left arm, with what looked to be an old tea cosy being used as a bookmark. His thick moustache twitched as he greeted Jamie. "I had been expected the lot of you! I am glad to see you, yes, yes." He peered past Jamie's shoulder. "All of you made it? Good. I'm glad. It's to be expected of course. Keep quiet and take it slow is the best course of action if anything is to be made of it."

"Uh…" Jamie seemed at a loss for words for a moment. "Johann?"

Johann beamed down at her. "Yes?"

"Is… Is everything okay?"

"Okay? Considering the circumstances, I'm doing brilliantly," Johann stepped aside. "Come on, come on, Sofie's house may be small but we can fit you in. She's got a kettle on the go now – did you know electricity hasn't gone out? Same with gas. What are you waiting for?" Johann ushered Jamie in, practically grabbing her shoulder and tugging her into the house. "The living room is big enough for us all to pile in."

"Johann…" Jamie turned around and stepped back towards the tall elderly man.

"Jamie?" Johann asked innocently.

"You've… realised… what is going on, haven't you?"

Johann's eyes widened. "Of course I have, dear, of course I have! It's the most interesting thing I've seen in decades and to think I'm living through it. I've been combing my books and I've got zero information on everything so that means a whole host of new information will come to light. Yes, yes, these seem to follow the rules of age-old undead. Aim for the head, destroy the brain, yada yada, but these are different. There wasn't an epicentre, they all just climbed out from their graves all as one. We had a few TV reports and radio before it all went silent. Weren't you paying attention?"

"We were busy trying to stay alive," Alisha said, crossing her arms.

"Hmm…" Johann stroked his chin. "I suppose." He turned his eyes towards Rose and Rose saw the deep black rings circling them. His smile finally subsided into a much gentler one. "How are you doing, my dear?"

"All things considered, I'm doing okay. I can move, that's something."

"Just make sure not to pull your stitches."

"I'll do my best." Rose paused for a moment before asking the question that was bothering her and no doubt Jamie as well. "Johann… When did you last sleep?"

Johann stared for a moment before that smile came back on. "I don't have time for sleep dear. There's so much I need to research, so much information I need to gather. I've been looking up the chalice, see, as well, though I haven't had much luck. Though I'm more interested in the dead that are walking. Never heard of anything like it outside of the media. Though the fact that they are so similar raises the question of what came first? The chicken or the egg? Are these dead somehow modelled after the media or, which is rather more likely, was the media modelled after the dead? If so, why haven't we heard—"

"Johann, dear, please stop leaving our guests at the doorstep." Sofie Weber, the old woman who used to be Johann's teacher, put a gentle hand on his elbow.

"I-" Johann rubbed his eyes and smiled. "Of course, of course. Yes, come in. Sofie is making some tea so just—"

"Sit in the living room, yeah, you mentioned," Alisha didn't seem to have the patience and stepped past Johann, following Sofie's directions to the living room. The others filtered past – some coaxing from Leslie to get Robert in – until finally it was Jamie, Rose, and Murphy facing Johann.

"A word?" Jamie asked.

Johann Schneider frowned and closed the door behind him, closing them off from the rest of the group. "I suspect you have more than just one, miss Root."

"Have you really not slept? Since when?"

"…I've had a lot to do since the warehouse and—"

"Since the warehouse?" Jamie scolded, as if Johann wasn't more than double her age. "You are no spring chicken, Johann. We are going to need your mind and your expertise, but we can't have that if you're prone to dropping at any moment. It isn't healthy."

"Do try not to tell me what is healthy, dear," Johann said with a strange, nearly angry, tone. The sleep deprivation seemed to have changed his emotions to something a little more ugly than what Rose was used to. The man had always been eccentric but never quite like this.

"Usually not listening to other people tell you you're unhealthy is a telltale sign," Murphy put in, not withering at the gaze Johann gave him.

"Johann…" It came to Rose suddenly and she reached out, putting a hand on Johann's arm. "It's not the research keeping you up, is it?"

"What do you mean, Miss Milano?"

"…Is it…" Rose licked her lips. "Is it Jäger?"

Johann froze as if shot. He licked his lips and took a step backwards, crossing his long arms over his chest. He glanced left and right before closing his eyes. "I have tried to sleep. I know of the importance of it. I know that I am seeing things that are not there and forgetting the things that I am reading. Yet every time I drift off I see him. Jäger. He was ever faithful. He was always there. He was my friend. I knew, much like myself, that the day would come and he would drift off and I thought that would be how it would happen. I was prepared to come downstairs one morning and find him peaceful and unmoving. Yet… My poor little Jäger was shot, put down like some kind of wild animal." Tears start running down the old man's cheeks, slipping through the crevices of his age. "_Jag älskade honom._ I loved him. It may seem strange to you. To love Jäger as I did. Perhaps you think me a fool. Well, fool I am. I brought him as a pup and watched him grow before my eyes." Johann shook his head, his braided hair swinging with the motion. Wiping away his tears, Johann sniffed. "A foolish old man who cannot handle the loss of a pet. I have seen friends die. Held their hands as they passed on. Yet nothing has hit me my quite as hard as my Jäger. I will sleep when my body forces me to. When my mind gives me rest. Only then. _Bara då_." Johann took a deep breath and smiled, this one genuine and not crazed. "First, a spot of tea."

* * *

Johann had not been lying when he said the room would be cramped. Even without Werner and Robert (who had both been given empty rooms by Sofie), they were all nearly shoulder to shoulder. They had been sharing what they knew of the dead and exchanging information. Eventually that had changed to just regular chatting, their voices low for fear of attracting attention. Rose found herself more often than not watching Johann. He was doing his best to listen to the rest but every so often he would nod off, only to jerk awake with a clench of his hands. If anyone else noticed his strange actions they didn't let on. Rose thought it would be a comfort to be back with Johann yet it felt like just one more person she had to watch after.

Eventually the tea got to her and she tapped Murphy's shoulder next to her, leaning into his ear. "I need to… uh… relieve myself." She tried to say it as straight as she could, hoping her face wouldn't go as red as she thought it might. The problem with the missing limb was that she had trouble with her balance and would need help.

"No problem," Murphy muttered back, getting ready to stand up. "Let me just—" There a light tap as magazine hit the top of his head. Murphy glanced up to see Bethany standing over him.

"No chance. I'll help her. C'mon Rose, up we go."

With that, Bethany gratefully helped Rose up and out, following the instructions by Sofie. Part of her was glad Bethany had offered to help though a strange part of her wished Bethany had just let Murphy take her to the bathroom. They made it to the bathroom and things were awkward for a little while before Bethany started speaking.

"You and Murphy are getting along pretty well, aren't you?" Bethany asked.

"…Seamus has been a big help to me."

"You know you shouldn't call him that unless he asks you to."

"He _has _asked me to."

Bethany glanced to Rose in shock. "He has?"

"Yes… Is that unusual?"

Bethany scoffed. "He doesn't let me _or _Sticks call him Seamus. Hell, the only people I know of that called him that was his mum and Kingsley." Bethany chewed on her lip for a moment. "You're more special to him than they were though, I'd bet."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"I don't…"

"What are we, schoolkids?" Bethany smiled. "C'mon, Rose. You and Murphy are together, right?"

"What? No, we just-"

"Spend practically all your time together?"

"He's just helping me out."

"Both Sticks and I have offered to help you out. Murphy would have none of it."

"Because of your arm-"

"What, and Sticks' head?" Bethany raised an eyebrow. "I've hung with Murphy for a long time, and I've seen hundreds of fans fall for him. The man never gave them any of his time. Except for you."

"I'm not a fan."

"Exactly. I suspect that's it." Bethany grinned again before turning to the door. "Look, I think it's great. Murphy has always been a lone wolf type. He's not exactly young like Jade nor does he go seeking it like Sticks. He's never really… reciprocated on feelings. Murphy was the first member of the band after Kingsley and I. Hell, Murphy made the duo into a band. The two had gone to school together and as soon as we needed a bass player, Kingsley clicked his fingers and said Murphy would be perfect. At first, Murphy didn't want to. When we met him to recruit him, he flat out said he didn't want the limelight. Kingsley managed to persuade him that a bass player never gets the limelight – though after our first concert with Murphy as bass he learned the hard way that Kingsley was lying. But when you're in… well, you're in."

Bethany put her forehead to the door, pressing it against the wood. "I think in times like this, finding relationships is important. Be they friends, family, or love. We need to have connections. It's how we get through this madness that our world has become. I think it's a godsend that I still have the Skyhawks. That I have Sticks and Murphy. That I have Jade, wherever the hell she is at the moment. Rose… I've seen that look on your face. It's the same look I had when Kingsley passed. It's a look of not wanting to connect with anyone for fear or what might happen. Your dad, your uncle, your friend, Siddharth… You lost them all, I know, it sucks, it does, nothing anyone can say will change that. Don't give up, yeah? You've got Jamie, you've got Murphy, and if you let us in you got the rest of us. You're our leader, don't forget."

Rose was quiet for a while before finishing up and using Bethany to help wash her hands. "I wanted to go to the bathroom, not a therapy session."

Bethany chuckled. "Well, you'll find other therapy sessions if you want them. Now c'mon, we could all use a break before this small little bit of normal gets snatched away in an instant."

* * *

**A/N:- Well, hasn't the world changed up a little bit since last you saw me. I'm happy to get this one done and I'm hoping to push myself to publish more regularly but we'll see how that goes. Lots of work to be done, so little time to do it, and that pesky procastination demon whispering in your ear. Hope everyone is keeping safe, and see you next time! **


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